NEW YORK
New York Daily News
March 12, 2013
BY Michael O’Keeffe
Editor’s note: Philip Culhane, one of the 12 men who settled an explosive sexual abuse lawsuit against Poly Prep Country Day School in December, was one of more than a dozen witnesses who spoke in favor of the Child Victims Act at a New York Assembly hearing on Friday. The bill, introduced by Queens Democrat Margaret Markey, would eliminate the criminal and civil statute of limitations in child sex crimes.
Here is the statement read by Culhane, who traveled from Hong Kong to participate in the hearing:
Good morning. My name is Philip Culhane.
A bit about me. I grew up in New York City, in Brooklyn and Greenwich Village. I attended Poly Prep Country Day School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, beginning as a fifth grader in 1976 and graduating in 1984. I went to college in Massachusetts and then went on to New York University School of Law. I went to work for a large Wall Street law firm, eventually moving to my firm’s Hong Kong office where I have been for the last 15 years. I am married and have two children, a 10-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son.
A story of fulfillment, success, love and driven accomplishment. But there is another narrative.
From 1966 through 1991, Poly prep had on staff a serial sexual abuser. He was the football coach. He was a legend. He was hired the year I was born. At one point while I was Poly, when my friends were on the team, the team was undefeated for three and a half years. He was a legend and also a serial sexual abuser. He repeatedly abused me starting when I was 10 years old.
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