A former teacher at Willow Park primary school in south Dublin has been jailed for a total term of ten years for the indecent assault of eight boys over 30 years ago.
Because Peter Kelly (73), who grew up and lived all his life in Booterstown, did not accept the verdict of a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that he was guilty of 28 counts of indecent assault, there was “no basis” to suspend any of the ten-year term, Judge Elma Sheehan said.
She was impressed by the bravery of the eight survivors, who had to “bare their souls” in victim impact statements, and the eloquent expression of their “very real hurt and torment”.
All eight were “already vulnerable children” at the time of the offences. They had suffered real trauma, whether as the result of the death of a parent or abuse by another person. Four had been abused by another person at the school, she noted.
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As a result of Kelly’s abuse, they suffered “real damage”, including addiction in some cases, psychological injury and inter-generational trauma.
They had “waited for decades” to tell their stories and to be believed and had suffered hurt due to lack of understanding about why they behaved in certain ways, including withdrawal, addiction and even moving abroad.
The court also acknowledged the “brutal” nature of the trial process. The accused was entitled to have the State prove its case, but that could cause further hurt by comments made during the process, which were ultimately rejected by the jury.
The aggravating factors were the seriousness of the offending, the position of the accused, the breach of trust, age disparity, repetitive nature of the offending, number of children involved, their vulnerability due to age and their own personal circumstances and the fact some of his offending was done in front of their peers, causing shame and embarrassment, the judge said.
In mitigation, the judge took into account Kelly has no previous convictions and that his time in custody will be more difficult because of that and his age. She also noted his significant physical frailties and ill health, including prostate cancer, eye and kidney problems, and an anxiety disorder; efforts to help people in need in his community and his long history of employment.
The single greatest mitigating factor in a case is a guilty plea but that was not available here and he did not accept the jury verdict, she said.
The judge said there are different ranges of offending into which offences of indecent and sexual assault fall and the fact that two year and ten year maximum sentences applied to some of the offences reflected those changes.
It is “profoundly degrading” for any person to be subject to any sexual assault and all sexual assaults are serious, she said.
She imposed sentences ranging from 20 months to years in relation to each complainant and made some of those consecutive and some concurrent.
After saying sentence must be proportionate to the gravity of the offence and the personal circumstances of the offender, she impose a global total sentence of ten years.
“I hope this brings some closure to the victims,” the judge concluded.
Kelly, who taught at Willow Park primary school from 1977 until 2004, was convicted last month of 28 counts of indecently assaulting the eight boys on various dates in the 1970s and the 1980s at the school.
The school was run by the Holy Ghost Fathers, now the Spiritans, and one of the eight survivors of Kelly’s abuse told the court his former teacher had worked for an institution “that tolerated widespread sexual abuse in Willow Park and Blackrock College”.
“Thirty seven abusers were identified in this, he was a mere cog in a machine of systematic abuse,” the man said. “We as children had no chance.”
All eight complainants, who were aged between 10 and 13 at the time of the offences, read or provided victim impact statements to the court last week.
Six complainants attended court to read their statements while the remaining two statements were read by Inspector Rachel Kilpatrick, who was involved from 2021 in a large scale Garda investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at Blackrock College and Willow Park primary school.
A number of complainants referred to Kelly engaging in what he called the ‘Muppet Show’ in the classroom, in which he would take a boy under his black cloak and, under the guise of tickling them, would run his hands up and down their torsos and buttocks.
Kelly also pulled some complainants onto his lap and bounced them aggressively up and down in front of the class while pushing his body against their backs.
The judge was also told Kelly brought some boys to stand in front of the class, stood behind them and took hold of their hands and moved their hands up and down all over their bodies while standing close behind them and pushing his body into theirs. One complainant described this as akin to “a humiliation ritual”.
Many of the offences took place in the classroom but one complainant was assaulted on four occasions by Kelly in a rugby changing room, including being held face down across Kelly’s knee while the teacher slapped his bottom and pushed him up towards his penis. Another complainant was assaulted where gym equipment was stored, involving being made bend over a gym horse and having his buttocks rubbed and slapped.
One complainant alleged, during an occasion when he was held back at school by Kelly, the teacher put his hands inside his underpants and digitally penetrated his anus.
All eight statements outlined serious adverse impacts of the abuse. Some complainants suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and some spoke of experiencing suicidal ideation.
