MALAWI (SOUTH AFRICA)
Ama Bhungane
February 7, 2018
By Michael O’Farrell and Collins Mtika
The Catholic Church’s St John of God order moved an Irish school principal accused of child abuse to Malawi, where he continued working with vulnerable children for almost 20 years, an investigation by the Centre for Investigative Journalism Malawi (CIJM) and Irish newspaper the Mail on Sunday has revealed.
The investigation also suggests that amid mounting allegations in Ireland, the order covered up Brother Aidan Clohessy’s continued involvement with children in Malawi, where he worked between 1993 and 2012.
The first serious allegation of child abuse was levelled against Clohessy in 1985, while he was the principal of St Augustine’s, a school for special needs boys in Dublin.
By the time the order withdrew him from public ministry in Malawi in 2012 and returned to Ireland, 14 allegations of abuse had been made against him relating to his tenure at St Augustine’s.
The Mail on Sunday reported that while he was in Malawi, a number of his alleged Irish victims received compensation under the “no-fault” compensation scheme run by the Redress Board set up by the Irish government.
More than a week ago, the newspaper reported that two new allegations of child abuse against Clohessy had been referred for investigation to gardaí (Irish police) and child and family agency Tusla.
Despite this, the 10-month media investigation heard that the brother, who was in charge of all the order’s operations in Malawi, continued to be involved with children during his years there.
The CIJM heard no allegations of direct physical abuse against him in Malawi. However, he is alleged to have converted a garage at his home where boys collected from the streets were housed.
It is also alleged that he required the boys to shower while he supervised them.
In an interview, Clohessy denied all the allegations and said he had not taken street children to his home or supervised them while they were showering.
Harrison Chilale, the order’s clinical director in Malawi, said “there was not even a single rumour (of abuse)”.
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