A former Christian Brother has been jailed for a year for the abuse of two pupils in a Dublin school almost 47 years ago.
John Merrick (77) of Portmarnock Park, Portmarnock, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four charges of indecent assault against one sixth class pupil and three charges of indecent assault against his classmate on dates between September 1977 and June 1978. Both men are now 58-years-old.
Both men indicated that they wish to retain their anonymity but are happy for Merrick to be named in reporting the case.
Merrick, who entered the Christian Brothers order at the age of 14, subsequently left the order in 1981 after meeting his now wife. He has two children and a number of grandchildren.
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He has previous convictions from the District Court in relation to similar offending around the same time. These incidences of abuse were reported in 1996 and he was later convicted in 1998, resulting in a six-month suspended sentence and a 12-month suspended sentence.
Philipp Rahn SC, defending, told the court that at the time of the convictions from the District Court, Merrick engaged in a sex offender treatment programme and also subsequently engaged in the restorative justice programme.
One of the men took the stand to read his victim impact statement into the record.
He said this was meant to be a victim impact statement but he found it difficult to assess the exact impact the abuse had on him, as he was a little boy in primary school at the time.
He said he cannot bear for anyone to touch him and doesn’t know if this would have been the case, had Merrick not touched him inappropriately as a child.
“He used his power to take advantage of me,” the man continued, and said he wondered would he have turned out to a more amiable and trusting person if he had not been molested by Merrick.
Judge Pauline Codd said the man had been “courageous” in delivering his victim impact statement before the court and described it as an articulate account of the impact the abuse had on him. She thanked him and noted that he did not seek to lay all the blame at the feet of the accused.
She acknowledged that the law which existed at the time of the offending meant that the maximum penalty available to the court is two years.
She said the law at the time “did not acknowledge the impact of such abuse on young children” before she added that “additional sentencing powers” now exist that recognise the seriousness of such abuse.
The judge also noted that the court has no way of knowing what Merrick’s psychological profile was at the time he was abusing these children. She noted that Merrick was 14 years old when he entered the religious order, adding that “sexual repression and isolation was rife at the time” in the order.
Judge Codd imposed a sentence of 12 months for the offences against the first man and a consecutive 10-month term for the offences against the second man.
Judge Codd also accepted that Merrick has not come to Garda attention since and has demonstrated an awareness of the impact of his offending through a letter of remorse he had written for the court.
Judge Codd imposed consecutive sentences totalling 22 months in prison before she suspended the final 10 months of the term on strict conditions for 12 months.
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