A former Marist brother was told by a judge yesterday that he had inflicted "unfathomable torture" on a small boy entrusted to his care.
Peter White (74), Celbridge Abbey, Celbridge, Co Kildare, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to eight sample charges of indecent assault on two boys at St John's national school, Temple Street, Sligo, in the 1970s. White is the third teacher from the school to have been convicted of indecently assaulting pupils.
The court heard that White, formerly known as Brother Agnellus, followed the boys into the school toilets where he indecently assaulted them.
Judge Miriam Reynolds commented that the "serial abuse" of boys of such tender years had an impact which had continued throughout their lives to the present day.
She noted that White had admitted hanging the boys from hooks on the back of the classroom door and that he had described himself as having been "a hard man" in the classroom.
One harrowing aspect of the case was that one young boy was forced to find a quiet corner in the school yard where he could pee as he became too terrified to go to the school toilets. The other injured party had also given a "heart-rending" account of how he had been affected by the former brother, who had fondled his private parts.
Judge Reynolds said that two innocent little boys who had good parents had been sent to this school in the belief that they would get a good education and be protected by the State. "Unfortunately they were not," she added.
Judge Reynolds said that as boys they had cowered before the accused and they still cowered before him. "I have observed them in court. They bow their heads in his presence when he should be bowing to them."
The judge also noted that even to this day, one of the men believed he had done something to warrant the attention of the accused when this was clearly not the case. A nine-year-old boy had been entrusted to the care of a brother who at the time would have been held in high esteem by society, she noted.
Judge Reynolds said White seemed to be "somewhat in denial" despite his guilty plea and had sought to minimise his actions by blaming his drinking and depression.
She was taking into account his guilty plea and the fact that he had no previous convictions. She had to give him credit for not compelling his victims to give evidence. She was also taking into account the fact that he was approaching his 75th birthday and the fact that the allegations came 23 years after the first offence.
But she said that the court had been put under "intolerable pressure" by medical reports suggesting that the defendant would be a suicide risk if given a jail sentence.
As a "fine young man" and a middle-aged man he had not shown mercy to these children but she would temper her punishment with mercy by imposing three years rather than the maximum five-year sentence allowed.