A young man who as a child was brutally sexually and physically abused by his father told the High Court yesterday that his father would regularly beat him and other members of his family with sally rods.
Mr Gerard McColgan (28), broke down while giving evidence on the third day of the action in which his sister, Ms Sophia Mc Colgan (27), is suing the North Western Health Board and Dr Desmond Moran, Stephen Street, Sligo, the family doctor. Gerard and two other members of the family, all formerly of Ballinacarrow, Ballymote, Co Sligo, have also initiated proceedings against the same defendants.
Mr McColgan described a litany of physical and sexual assaults inflicted on him by his father, Joseph McColgan, who is serving a 12-year sentence after pleading guilty to 26 token charges. The abuse is said to have taken place from the late 1970s until the late 1980s or early 1990s.
Cross-examined by Mr John Rogers SC, for the health board, Ms McColgan said her father's abuse of her ceased when he threw her out of the family home in 1991. Social workers had not helped her in 1979 so she did not consider they would come to help her in 1991, she said. She "gave up on them". She had the support of her mother and nobody else.
Mr Rogers said the Department of Health in 1987 issued directions about how child abuse cases were to be dealt with. Ms McColgan said she learned of these within the past year or so but said they did not affect her case. After counselling, she consulted a solicitor, Mr Kevin Kilrane, in 1993 after her father was convicted.
Ms McColgan said her mother knew of the physical abuse but did not know of the sexual abuse until she told her about it in 1993. She said her father would kick her mother until she bled. When her mother was pregnant, her father kicked her.
Mr Patrick Hanratty SC, for Dr Moran, said Dr Moran's notes recorded that he had no occasion to see Ms McColgan for any purpose after 1977 until 1979. He would say she was never brought to him with any physical injury.
She said Dr Moran was possibly right when he claimed he was not aware or consulted at the time she went to hospital in 1979 with a broken nose. Mr Hanratty said Dr Moran was first aware of that incident when he received a discharge letter dated August 24th, 1979.
In the letter, paediatrician Dr Brian McDonagh stated Ms McColgan had been admitted with a history of physical abuse by her father, Mr Hanratty said.
The letter stated: "I have had many discussions with both the mother and father, have had a case conference with Dr Heagney and the social workers involved and, unfortunately, you were not notified of this meeting."
Ms McColgan said she had only discovered in the past week that her father had been examined by a psychiatrist and was never aware Dr Moran was not told of a case conference.
Mr Hanratty said Dr McDonagh wrote again to Dr Moran on January 9th, 1980, saying he had seen the McColgans for review. He said: "While everything in the garden is anything but rosy, there would certainly appear to be an improvement and I certainly get the impression that the father is making an effort. In addition you would appear to have sorted out Gerard.
"Could I leave it to you and the public health nurse to keep in close touch with the family and if anything untoward happens or if there is any way we can help we will see them directly for you . . . I feel a watching brief is absolutely necessary."
Ms McColgan said she was not aware there had been an assessment of the situation due to Dr Moran's efforts because they were at home suffering a lot and did not think there was any help. She was not aware that Dr Moran took part in a second case conference in November 1989.
She did not know the doctor had discussed some of the concerns or warned her father of the consequences of his behaviour to her. If she had known these things she would have been a little less harsh in her attitude.
She did not know her mother had never made a complaint of being abused or that she had never attended Dr Moran for injury. She was not aware Dr Moran spoke to her father on 38 occasions between November 1979 and April 1980.
Mr Hanratty said Ms McColgan placed particular emphasis during her evidence on a case conference report which stated that Dr Moran had said Gerard was manipulative and needed discipline.
Dr Moran would say this was based on a psychological assessment made in 1979 and, rightly or wrongly, was an honest assessment.
Mr Hanratty said that in mid1983, there had been a case conference. Gerard had made allegations of sexual abuse by their father. Ms McColgan said she was not aware that Dr Moran examined the four children for signs of sexual abuse in July 1983. She was unaware her parents had been confronted with the allegations.
She accepted that Dr Moran had asked her on a number of occasions about things at home and also accepted that, between 1976 and 1983, Dr Moran had no reason to suspect she was being subjected to sexual abuse.
In evidence, Mr Gerard McColgan, who is married and lives in England, said his father would hit him with whatever was nearest at hand. He was struck with spanners, screwdrivers and hammers. He cried as he told of frequent beatings by his father in those years. He said his father started to sexually abuse him when he was aged seven or eight.
Dr Doreen Dunleavy said she saw Sophia in July 1979 and admitted her to hospital for X-rays with a letter of referral saying she had been battered by her father.
In October 1979, she also referred Gerard to hospital after she was told by his grandmother that he had been beaten by his father. She did not see the children again, they were not her patients.
The hearing continues today before Mr Justice Johnson.