A retired Christian Brother who was principal of a Dublin school will be sentenced in July for sexually abusing one of his students for four years.
Paul Hendrick, who is now 75, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, to eleven counts of indecently assaulting Kenneth Grace, during most of his time in secondary school at the CBS school on Westland Row.
Eleven other counts are to be taken into consideration by the court.
The abuse started in May 1980 when Mr Grace was at the end of his first year in secondary school and continued until he was almost at the end of sixth year.
Mr Grace told the court he did not consider himself a survivor of sexual abuse but was someone who got by on a daily basis.
He said he had been left with deep emotional scars that affected him to this day.
Mr Grace said every day in school had been "hell on earth" for him. He told the court that Hendrick had destroyed his childhood and his potential, taken happiness out of his life forever, made sure he had no friends and turned his childhood and adult life into a battlefield.
Detective Garda Enda Dowling told the court that Mr Grace was a very shy boy and did not know anyone when he started secondary school in 1979.
He was also vulnerable as his father had passed away at a very young age.
The court heard Hendrick had initially given Mr Grace extra tuition and got him to help with odd jobs.
He would give him gifts of cans of coke and sweets and later on cigarettes and allowed him to use the school van.
The first incident happened in May 1980, in the school furnace room which Mr Grace called "the Dungeon".
The court heard this room was in the basement of the school. It was dimly lit and very warm as it contained the furnace along with some gym equipment.
Mr Grace said Hendrick began to initiate a wrestling game where Hendrick would be behind him restraining his arms and his legs and would rub himself up behind him.
At the beginning, the court heard, they would both be fully clothed, but Mr Grace told gardaí that after some time, Hendrick began to wear a faux leather red and black thong with a silver zip down the front.
He said the activities escalated to include whipping. Hendrick would whip Mr Grace with a leather whip or tell Mr Grace to whip him.
Mr Grace said he was too afraid to tell anyone and too young to understand what had happened to him.
He also described incidents which happened in a reception room in the priests' residence and on school holidays when he was brought on camping trips to a farm owned by the Christian brothers in Waterford and to a residence in Co Tipperary.
He said when he got older he tried to fight back by kicking Hendrick as he now realised what he was doing was wrong.
Mr Grace told gardaí that when the physical abuse stopped, Hendrick would shout at him in the classroom and other classmates did not want to be involved with him.
In his victim impact evidence, he said he had struggled with depression and anxiety as a result of what had happened.
He said Hendrick seemed kind and caring at first and became the father figure he never had but then his behaviour began to change.
He said the breach of trust had affected every aspect of his life.
Mr Grace outlined how he had been bullied and ridiculed by other pupils because of the attention Hendrick was giving him and he said the abuse in the boiler room had left him with terrifying memories.
These memories paralysed him he said and had affected his relationship with his own son.
He said he had phoned the Samaritans as he thought he might lose his family. But he decided that although Hendrick had taken his childhood, he would never get his family.
He said Hendrick's actions had impaired his mental health forever and had given him a prison sentence no child deserved. Everyday activities were a struggle he said, because his energy was used trying to survive.
Mr Grace said he hoped he would get justice and he would start to live his life without guilt and shame.
Turning to face Hendrick, Mr Grace said he was not to blame. "It is not my fault," Mr Grace told Hendrick, "it is your fault".
Defence counsel Philipp Rahn told the court Hendrick had begun the journey to becoming a Christian brother at the age of 14.
He had been principal of CBS Westland Row from 1981 until 1994. After that, he had been centrally involved in setting up the Life Centre, a community-based charity in the city centre, supporting underprivileged early school leavers and doing outreach work in prisons.
Mr Rahn said he now lived in a community with other elderly Christian brothers. His fall from grace, he said, had been "long".
A forensic psychologist had described Hendrick at the time of the offences as being emotionally immature, with a very poor understanding of sexual and relationship matters.
Mr Rahn handed in a number of testimonials on Hendrick's behalf from family members and two former students.
He asked the court to take into consideration his guilty pleas and the amount of time that had passed since the offences occurred.
He also said he was instructed to give an absolute and unreserved apology on Hendrick’s behalf to Mr Grace.
Judge Pauline Codd said she would need some time to consider the matter and adjourned the finalisation of her sentence until 10 July.
