“The process was brutal but justice was done,” said one man who was abused as a child by teacher Peter Kelly at Willow Park primary school in Dublin’s Blackrock.
Kelly (73) was sentenced to a total of 10 years imprisonment at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Monday for the sexual abuse of eight boys at the school in the early to mid-1980s.
The trial took place in camera but a number Kelly’s abuse survivors spoke to The Irish Times afterwards. Some did not want their names used.
Matthew (not his real name), first made allegations about Kelly 25 years ago, in 2000, to the Willow Park school authorities. This led to Kelly’s resignation in 2004. “They fought me and fought me and fought me and fought me. I’m the original complainant,” he said.
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“If they had afforded me 1 per cent of the protection that they had afforded him, this would have come out many years ago,” he said.
A Garda file on Matthew’s allegations against Kelly was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who decided not to prosecute Kelly. “I left the country. I took that as not being believed,” he said. Kelly was sentenced to five years jail on Monday arising from the allegations made by Matthew.
In his victim-impact statement to the court on December 2nd, Matthew recalled how, in order to escape abuse by Kelly at Willow Park, he steered his bicycle into a lamp-post. “At 11 years of age I never stood a chance,” he told the court. “I hated everything to do with school.”
These days he is “putting one foot in front of the other. I’m not coping, I’m here,” he told The Irish Times.
Aidan Moore, who agreed to be named, felt 10 years was “a fair sentence” for Kelly.
“I can’t say I’m happy, because it’s not a happy day but Justice [Elma] Sheahan has given a fair sentence in regard to what the charges were and I am very comfortable with what the sentence is,” he said.
Mr Moore has spent most of his life abroad, mainly because of his abuse at Willow Park. “I really feel that I can’t stay here. I spent a number of years in the United States and spent over 20 years in Africa, in Kenya. I’m back here for family reasons but I’m really struggling,” he said.
Five of the eight men who made complaints against Kelly also alleged abuse by former Christian Brother Edward Baylor, now deceased. He was referred to by Justice Elma Sheahan in her sentencing judgement as “EB”. He was convicted of child abuse in 1988.
Mr Moore said he had been abused by Baylor. “It is clear that the Holy Ghost Fathers/Spiritans enabled, protected and covered up for their abusers. That is one of the reasons why it has taken so long to get to where we are today, the conviction of one paedophile for 28 charges out of the thousands of crimes committed.”
It also “required a lot of courage from the victims and their families, and an enormous amount of work by An Garda Síochána and the DPP has gone into achieving this result,” he said.
Kieran Freeney said of the case he was “happy that it’s concluded and that we can all move on from this because it’s been over 30 years in the making”.
When his mother died by suicide, and with his father living abroad for work reasons, Kieran became a boarder at Willow Park, where he was abused by both Kelly and Baylor at the ages of 11 and 12.
Kelly was “the only one that’s alive so, unfortunately for him perhaps, but fortunately for us that we get some closure in our lives and some part of justice being served on behalf of myself and of my colleagues here today and all victims of Blackrock and Willow Park,” he said.
For Luke (not his real name), Kelly’s sentence was “in line with what I was hoping for. I think that’s fair.”
His own decision to come forward with his allegations followed the RTÉ Radio 1 documentary Blackrock Boys in 2022. “I was living in Germany at the time and I came forward. My brother, who is 12 years older than me, was also abused in the school. He has come forward.”
As with many survivors, he had high praise for the gardaí involved who did “a fantastic job, especially Rachel Kilpatrick, Aisling Healy and the team”.
Overall “the process was brutal but justice was done. It’s OK for people to come forward. There is help out there and the police have a very much victim-led approach. So I urge people to come forward. It’s better out than in,” he said.
