Former Christian Brother 'an evil man,' court hears

A former pupil of a secondary school in west Belfast has told a court he was physically and sexually abused by former headmaster Paul Dunleavy, who he described as "an evil, evil man".

The abuse, he alleged, started when he was 13 or 14 at Gort na Mona Secondary School and happened "every day or every other day."

The complainant is one of nine men who have alleged they were abused as children by the former Christian Brother.

The 88-year-old, with an address at Glen Road in Belfast, denies all 37 charges of historical sexual abuse he is accused of.

The offences, which include indecent assault and gross indecency with or towards a child, are alleged to have been committed on dates between 1964 and 1991.

Mr Dunleavy worked as either a teacher or headmaster at four schools in Belfast, Newry and Armagh.

On day four of the trial, the court heard from a former pupil at one of those schools - Gort na Mona - which amalgamated with other schools in 1988 to become Corpus Christi College, now called All Saints College.

In a police interview, played to the jury, the former pupil said the abuse was physical at the start.

"I remember him beating me," he said.

"Just coming in the double doors into the school, he'd have been standing waiting on you, a big tall man.

"He would have singled you out, pulled you to the side, if you were late, he'd have beat the hands off you with a big leather strap."

He said he enjoyed school in first and second year, until the beatings began, which he said left him "black and blue", and with red welts on his hands and legs.

Then the sexual abuse began, he claimed, taking place in the accused's office, the toilets or a classroom nearby.

"He would have hands down your trousers," he said.

"He would have made you pull down your trousers, made you touch him, it was horrible. He touched me all over down below."

The former pupil said Mr Dunleavy made him and some others wear a boilersuit and do jobs around the school, like cleaning windows and litter picking, instead of going to classes.

After six months to a year, he stopped going to school altogether.

"He was a bad, bad man. He destroyed me, he destroyed my school," the former pupil said.

"I was only a boy. Back then you just got on, you didn't know any better, now I know, he ruined my life."

Defence barrister Gary McHugh KC cross-examined the complainant about when he made the initial complaint to the police.

He asked him why he did not tell any medical personnel he had been seeing about his mental health in the 1990s or 2000s about the alleged abuse.

"I can't answer that," he said. "I don't know."

Mr McHugh asked: "Did you make up the complaint?"

"No, you're wrong, it happened," he said.

Mr McHugh said: "Paul Dunleavy denies any of this - beating you, sexually assaulting you. I put it to you that you have invented these allegations to sue people for money."

The complainant replied: "Definitely not, it happened."

The trial continues.