A former Christian Brother at the North Monastery secondary school in Cork has been sentenced to two concurrent one-year jail terms for indecently assaulting two boys.
Edward Bryan, 62, of Martinvilla, Athboy Road, Trim, Co Meath, pleaded guilty to two charges; one relating to a schoolboy at the North Monastery secondary school in Cork between September 1979 and June 1981 and the other relating to another boy at the school in September 1986.
He left the Brothers in 1994 and took up a position at Oberstown detention centre for juvenile offenders.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said: "Edward Bryan has pleaded guilty to counts of indecent assault on two young boys when he was a teacher in a school here in the city. He was in a position of authority. He abused that trust in authority.
"A significant difference is his present attitude and the fact that he has pleaded guilty. That to me is a huge change and a change for the better."
Detective Sergeant Vincent O’Sullivan outlined the background to the sexual assaults in the 1980s. Both of the young teenagers were being coached after school in sports when the crimes were committed.
Defence barrister Brendan Kelly said: "He has instructed me to apologise profusely to the victims for any harm caused to them over the years. He apologises to his family and to the Order for any disrepute he has brought to them."
Bryan was not in Cork Circuit Criminal Court last month for sentencing as the prosecution said he had made a suicide attempt at his home.
One of the victims did not want his victim impact statement read openly in court and it was handed in to the judge yesterday.
The other injured party stated last month: "I have carried around the shame of his sexual abuse for my entire adult life, never addressing it and always shutting it away from my memories out of embarrassment.
"I suppose I would say that you have stolen a moment of my life that I can never have back."
