€370k for abused man

A 42-year old man who was sexually abused by a Christian Brother over a five-year period, starting when he was aged 8, has been awarded €370,000 by a High Court judge.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross said the sexual abuse suffered by the man as a young boy was of the most extreme he had seen in his career. “He suffered severe injury which has affected him throughout his life,” the judge said.

The man said the abuse took place in the early 1980s on a Christian Brothers premises in Artane, Dublin, when the boy had volunteered to help out gardening. He told how the Christian Brother, who has since died, put his hand inside his trousers and fondled him when he visited him in a convalescent home.