Man who says Christian Brother abused him accepts he was big influence on him

A man who claims he was indecently assaulted by a Christian Brother said at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that his alleged assailant was a big influence on his life and did a lot of good for him.

He was giving evidence in the second day of the trial of the 62-year-old brother, who has pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting the him between August 3, 1985 and August 14, 1986 on a hill near Finore, Co Clare, and between August 1, 1987 and August 31, 1989 in the accused's Dublin home.

The 37-year-old complainant defence counsel, Mr Felix McEnroy SC, that the accused had given him good advice, shown him friendship and been encouraging, telling him he was a good person and that there was value in his life.

However, he said that when he and another Christian Brother took him and other disadvantaged boys on holiday to Clare, he indecently assaulted him.

He accepted that he had since described it as 'the best holiday' of his life, but told Mr McEnroy that it was the only holiday he ever had.

He accepted that he grew up in poverty and disadvantage, both his parents being unemployed alcoholics. He said a typical evening meal comprised beans and chips and that he didn't get lunch.

He said the teachers in his secondary school saw him and others like him as people who couldn't be educated because they didn't want to be educated, and left them at the back of the class. When he didn't return to school after second year, nobody came looking for him.

"Teachers weren't the top of our list. It was them and us," he said. "They were happy to see the back of us."

However he said the accused was "different". He worked as a liaison between staff and pupils in his school and was seen as neutral by the boys.

"He was the nice guy out of the Christian Brothers. He helped out with troublesome children. He'd take you under his wing and get you involved in youth services," he said.

The complainant agreed that he stayed in touch with the defendant until a few years ago, when he made his initial complaint to gardaí.

He was shown a glass engraving of a horse he had made and given to the accused in 1989 at the opening of a drop-in centre for homeless people he had organised and to which he had invited the Brother.

He was also shown the invitation, both of which the accused had kept. He accepted the ornament meant a lot to the Christian Brother and said he had intended it to.

He accepted that he introduced the accused to the homeless charity's founder that night, saying he was the one who had kept him out of trouble. He also accepted that he might have spoken highly of him on national radio at the time, crediting him with putting him on the right path, away from drugs.

However, he refuted the accused's statement to gardaí in which he denied the allegations of indecent assault.

The trial continues before Judge Tony Hunt and a jury of six men and six women.