A woman who led a group of four mothers in making complaints about a Franciscan brother, alleging sexual abuse by him of a number of children had her village shop boycotted as a result, the High Court was told yesterday.
The shop subsequently closed and the woman has since died, the court was told by a man who is alleging he was sexually abused more than 250 times at the school where then Brother John Hannon, who has since left the order and is a father of five children, taught.
The man, a married father in his 40s, is suing the Franciscan Order and the State for damages arising from the alleged abuse while he was a pupil at a Galway primary school between 1969 and 1972. It is alleged the abuse began when he was nine years old.
Six former pupils of the same school - four men and two women - told the court yesterday they had been sexually abused by Brother Hannon.
Hannon (65) was released from prison last October, after serving a 10-year sentence on indecent assault charges in relation to other children in another school.
In his evidence, the plaintiff said a parent had written to a senior brother in the Franciscan Order to complain about the alleged abuse and it had stopped for a time but started again some time later. The plaintiff said he was marched down to the boiler house by Hannon and sexually abused on several occasions after the complaint.
The plaintiff said his own father, like a lot of parents, was pressurised by certain members of the community into changing sides on Brother Hannon. His mother also took the side of the Franciscans and the majority.
He said he feels that, every morning when he gets up to have a shower, his skin "is still crawling" and he still gets "the smell" of abuse. He felt "like a leper".
Cross-examined by Conor Maguire SC, the plaintiff agreed there was an enormous send-off for Hannon in 1973. There had been a lot of division in the community over Hannon, he said. His father felt compromised and had "changed sides" in order not to be ostracised. He was a very quiet man and depended on the Franciscans for his livelihood.
Another man, who alleges Hannon sexually abused him while he was a school pupil, gave evidence yesterday of begging his parents not to send him to secondary school because there were rumours it would be worse there. As a result, he had never attended secondary school.
A daughter of the shopkeeper the plaintiff said had been boycotted said her mother was vilified and ostracised as a result of the stand she had taken concerning Hannon's alleged sexual abuse.
Her mother was totally distressed when she returned from a meeting in the Parochial House called by four mothers.
After that meeting, her mother was ostracised and her health deteriorated as a result, the witness said. Her mother was never the same person afterwards. She had died as a result of a stroke in recent years.
The case continues today before Mr Justice Richard Johnson.