A man now aged in his thirties who, as a schoolboy, was sexually abused by a care worker while he was on a visit to an orphanage in the mid-1970s was awarded damages of €75,000 by the High Court today.
Mr Justice O'Higgins found St Joseph's Industrial School, Kilkenny, guilty of negligence in relation to the abuse. He said the orphanage, "unfortunately and inexplicably" had failed to investigate complaints made about the alleged abuser, Mr Myles Brady, now deceased.
Had action being taken on foot of the complaints made by Mr Edward Murphy, then an assistant to Mr Brady, Mr Brady would not have been in a position to abuse the plaintiff.
However, the judge held there was no vicarious (delegated) liability on the part of the Minister for Education, who was also sued. In the particular circumstances of the case, the Minister could not be made liable for the assault, the judge said.
The judge assessed damages for assault and false imprisonment at €75,000, to encompass pain and suffering to date and into the future.
Without in any way diminishing the nastiness and seriousness of any sexual assault, the abuse incident was at the lowest end of the scale of sexual abuse, Mr Justice O'Higgins said. However, the consequences of the assault were serious and had caused a great deal of suffering to the man over a long period of time.
Mr Justice O'Higgins said the man was a patently truthful witness who in no way exaggerated his suffering or symtoms. The course of his adolescence was changed by the assault and he had suffered loneliness and isolation as a result of the assault and the feelings it evoked in him.