‘It closed my life down’

TWO former Christian Brothers falsely accused of sexually abusing boys in their care spoke yesterday of the torment the allegations had caused them.

One of them, Paul Farrell, who had his conviction for sexual assault quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal on Tuesday, said the accusation had ruined his teaching career and his life.

“It closed my life down. I had a life but I wasn’t living and there were times when it didn’t seem as if it was worth living any more.

“It took away my good name and it took away my job, everything I had worked for.”

Mr Farrell, who spent most of his career working with disadvantaged children lost his job when he was convicted in 2001.

He said he knew of many other former Brothers who had also faced false accusations.

“I am personally acquainted with 11 people in the same situation and they all have similar stories to mine. They are now receiving letters from the DPP saying they are not proceeding.

“One friend was out of work seven years and in court 43 timesOne morning he went to court for another adjournment and he was told they were not proceeding.”

Mr Farrell, who is now married, said he did not feel bitterness towards the person who made the allegations but felt the justice system had let him down.

“The gardaí did not guard me against this false allegation and the detectives did not detect that they were being told a lie,” said Mr Farrell who taught at St Joseph’s Industrial School at Salthill in Galway.

He added: “I went to court two years ago and I was found guilty. I went to court yesterday and I was told my appeal was successful but I was not told I was innocent.”

Another former Brother who faced false accusations dating back to 1994 said the case had stolen nine years out of his life.

On Monday last, gardaí investigating the circumstances of the case wrote to him to tell him that the DPP had decided not to institute any prosecution.

“I was ecstatic,” the 63- year-old Brother, who worked in Artane industrial school in Dublin, said yesterday.

The man, who did not wish to be named, said the allegations of sexual assault had also ruined his life.

“This person said I took him out of his bed at night time, took him to my bedroom, sexually abused him and threatened that I would kill him. None of it was true.”