A former teacher has been remanded in custody for sentencing after being found guilty of more than 40 counts of indecently assaulting pupils at a primary school in Limerick.
The man (80), who cannot be named to protect the identifies of his victims, had denied a total of 43 counts of indecent assault on several of his former pupils.
He denied their claims that he had touched their genitals and rubbed their bodies underneath their clothing, at the school, on dates between the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Following a trial at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court a jury of eight men and four women returned unanimous guilty verdicts in respect of all of the 43 counts, last Friday.
The man preyed on the pupils in the classroom, in a boiler/heater room, and in a bathroom at the school.
One victim gave evidence that the man molested him on an almost daily basis.
He said the defendant would approach him from behind, put his hands down the boy’s trousers or up inside his shirt, and fondle him.
“I didn’t want him to do it, but what could you do, he was the teacher, I was only 11,” the victim said.
Under cross examination from the man’s barrister, the victim agreed that when he gave his statement to the Garda he did not immediately tell them the man had touched his penis.
The victim told the barrister he had given his statement to a “lady detective” and that he was “ashamed” to tell her every detail of what the man had done to him.
“How could you feel comfortable with saying that. [The defendant] wrecked my whole life, I was on drugs because of him, I tried to commit suicide four times,” the victim told the man’s barrister.
Another victim gave evidence there had been a “nervous” atmosphere in the classroom, and the defendant would touch his genitals “once or twice a day, during the school year”.
The man was remanded in custody for sentence at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court on June 11th.