John McClean told to rot in hell as past pupils describe how he abused them at Terenure College

Former Terenure College teacher and rugby coach John McClean has been described in court as a “monster” and told to “rot in hell” by a past pupil whom he sexually assaulted in the 1980s.

McClean (78) is to be sentenced on Friday at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after he admitted sexually assaulting 20 boys at the south Dublin school on dates between 1971 and 1992.

McClean of Casimir Avenue, Harold’s Cross, Dublin is currently serving an 11-year sentence, with the final three years suspended, for abusing 23 Terenure College pupils. The sentence was handed down in 2021.

On Thursday morning, the court heard evidence from several injured parties, including one man who joined by video-link from the US.

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One man, now aged 51, said he “wanted to die” while being abused by McClean at the age of 14. He said he went from being a very happy child “always with a smile on my face” to becoming so miserable after McClean abused him that he later tried to take his own life.

He said he had worked hard all his life to overcome the “shame and grubbiness” he associated with sexual desire and the feeling that he had “done something wrong”.

McClean was appointed form-master for first years in 1980 and used this position, as well as his role as rugby coach, to prey on children, Garda James Duffy told prosecuting counsel Paul Murray SC.

As well as coaching rugby, McClean taught French and English during his three-decade tenure at the school and the abuse took place mainly in his office, a windowless physiotherapy room or in a room under the concert hall known as the smoking room, to which only McClean had the key.

[ Abuse by former teacher and coach John McClean a ‘dark hour’ for Terenure ]

[ John McClean was ‘royalty’ in schoolboy rugby, say former players ]

Victims described how McClean, nicknamed Doc, would call boys into the physio room under the pretext of treating sports injuries, before sexually assaulting them.

Other men told of how McClean would pull them under his teaching gown and use his hands like “talons” while he abused them. One man concluded his victim impact statement by directly addressing McClean, who sat with his head in his hands throughout: “May you and your sort rot in hell for eternity. You are a monster.”

Several victims said they could still smell McClean’s aftershave and were unable to look at the photographs of his “chilling” eyes in the newspapers because of the memories that would come flooding back to them.

“When I saw his picture, it was like I got punched in the stomach, I started to cry,” one man said.

Paul Kennedy, now aged 60, described how McClean set about grooming him after his father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Mr Kennedy, who waived his right to anonymity, criticised school authorities at the time for facilitating the abuse.

“When I was at school in Terenure College it was a very safe place – for paedophiles. We had several to choose from or, should I say, several we prayed would not choose to prey upon us.

“As incoming new students we were soon warned by the older boys of who was to be avoided, especially in a confined space. I learned this the hard way.”

He said his innocence was stolen to satisfy McClean’s “callous warped desires” and detailed the “constant bullying, humiliation and sexual sleaze that was our daily lot in Terenure College, epitomised by John McClean”.

Mr Kennedy said he had survived McLean’s “lechery” but that to do so, he needed to acknowledge the experience of being “stained by paedophilia”.

He quoted Macbeth: “What, will these hands ne’er be clean? No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that. You mar all with this starting.”

Mr Kennedy said others in authority had “looked the other way” and said while McLean and others offended by committing “unspeakable acts”, the majority of staff had offended “by not speaking up”.

One victim told the court there had been another adult in the room when the abuse was taking place, but that McClean sat between that man and the child in order to block his view.

“The other person seemed like someone pretending not to notice,” said the victim.

Another victim described how his parents had saved hard to send their son to a prestigious school like Terenure College in order to give him a good start, but that McClean had robbed him of that education.

He said he dodged school as much as he could and McClean had destroyed his only solace which was playing rugby. The man described school as a “very lonely place” because of McClean’s abuse, and said: “To this day, I’m still lying to my mother about how school was for me.”

The court heard how the victims suffered issues with mental health, alcohol and drug abuse, relationship breakdown and job loss as a result of the abuse meted out by McClean. Another survivor thanked Damien Hetherington, a previous victim who waived his anonymity following an earlier case against McClean.

[ My Terenure hell: 'Taught right and wrong by men trying to get hands down your trousers' ]

“The reason I’m here today is because of Damien,” he said. Another victim described McClean as a “sick old man with no future”.

In January, McClean affirmed guilty pleas to four counts of indecent assault relating to two boys during the 1980s. On Thursday morning, McClean pleaded guilty to a further 23 counts of abusing 20 boys at the college between 1971 and 1992.

Most of the charges are of indecent assault while two are of sexual assault which were carried out against a student in the 1990s. He has 96 previous convictions, all for indecent assault of young boys under the age of 18 who attended Terenure College.

Det Garda Duffy agreed with Sean Guerin SC, defending, that his client was co-operative with gardaí. He agreed that when the allegations were put to McClean he told gardaí that while he had no recollection of any of the incidents, bar one, he could see no reason as to why the men would make a false complaint.

Mr Guerin said his client had written an apology which counsel read into the record. In the letter McClean states that he apologised sincerely to all involved, to the parents of the children who had placed their trust in him, to Terenure College, and to his family and friends.

Mr Guerin asked the court to take into account the age of his client, that he was suffering from an aggressive form of cancer and was already serving a lengthy prison sentence.

Judge Martin Nolan adjourned the case for sentencing to 1pm on Friday.