The High Court awarded David Connellan €300,000 in damages for abuse he suffered while resident at Saint Joseph’s in Kilkenny. Mr Justice Diarmuid B. O’Donovan gave judgment on 21 March 2006 after a hearing to assess damages.
The defendants had initially conceded liability for physical and sexual abuse by Therese Connolly, physical abuse by David Murray, and sexual abuse by Breffney O’Rourke. At the hearing, they disputed additional allegations raised in Mr Connellan’s evidence, including that Ms Connolly had locked him in a cupboard, that Mr Murray had attempted indecent contact, and that Mr O’Rourke had physically beaten him. They argued that claims based on those additional allegations were statute barred because they had not been set out in the original particulars.
The judge accepted those additional allegations against Ms Connolly, Mr Murray and Mr O’Rourke. He was satisfied that, over five years at Saint Joseph’s and Summerhill, Mr Connellan suffered physical, sexual, emotional and racial abuse. He rejected the defendants’ argument that the additional claims were statute barred, finding that a claimant in a case involving multiple forms of abuse did not have to identify every incident before trial.
The court rejected Mr Connellan’s identification of Sally Nolan as a woman who had physically abused him. The judge found that he was mistaken, noting that Ms Nolan was under 16 when she left Saint Joseph’s and had only overlapped with him there for a little over a year. He also found that Mr Connellan had passed the Group Certificate, though he was not persuaded that Mr Connellan had been told; and that he had not been expelled from the CBS secondary school in Kilkenny.
The judge found that the abuse had harmed Mr Connellan’s confidence, self-esteem and ability to concentrate, limiting his educational and vocational development. He awarded €200,000 in general damages for the abuse and its consequences, €50,000 in future general damages to cover anticipated emotional problems, medication and counselling, and €50,000 in aggravated damages. The judgment records no separate award for out-of-pocket expenses. The court entered judgment for Mr Connellan for €300,000.