‘He took my childhood’: Ray Noctor recounts industrial school abuse in powerful video testimony

In a new video, the 67-year-old returns to St Joseph’s Industrial School in Kilkenny and recalls the abuse he suffered as a child

“That boy died, that boy was gone, I was hurt so badly. He took my life; he took my childhood from me.” These are the words of 67-year-old Ray Noctor from Co Carlow, the first man to take a case against the State to the High Court over sexual abuse in an industrial school.

Mr Noctor suffered years of rape, torture and bestiality between the ages of 12 and 16 at the hands of teacher David Murray at St Joseph’s Industrial School in Kilkenny.

More than two decades after his case reached the High Court, Mr Noctor is speaking out again about the lasting impact of his childhood experiences and what he calls “the Government’s failure to properly acknowledge the suffering of survivors”.

In a 10-minute video filmed by Chani Anderson, he returns to the former industrial school, where he was placed aged nine after his mother died and he became a ward of court.

Pointing to land in the school’s former garden, Mr Noctor recalls being forced to dig in the pouring rain as Murray threatened to bury him there if he told anyone what was happening.

“It was lashing raining and I begged him to kill me. I said: ‘Please kill me now take me out of my misery’,” he says.

He also describes being forced to lick up his own vomit and left in freezing conditions overnight.

“I always told anybody who would listen to me. But nobody listened to me,” he says, recalling how social workers dismissed his complaints.

In 2005, Mr Noctor sued the State, the education minister, the South Eastern Health Board and others. Liability for the assaults was admitted, and the High Court awarded him €370,000 in damages and costs.

The Government apologised to industrial school survivors in February this year and announced additional supports. But Mr Noctor remains angry at the State’s response.

“It wasn’t about money, I don’t care if they got a million each, two million each,” he says.

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