Applause in court as former Brother is sent to jail for molesting 19 boys
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A PACKED courtroom burst into spontaneous applause yesterday when a former Christian Brother was jailed for two years for indecently assaulting 19 boys.
Judge Carroll Moran warned those clapping, including some of the victims of Sean Drummond (61), that they could find themselves in contempt of court as the abuser was led away by prison staff to begin his sentence.
Silence had filled Limerick Circuit Criminal Court yesterday while the judge passed his sentence on the former teacher who pleaded guilty to 36 separate charges relating to indecently assaulting 19 boys at Creagh Lane national school (also known as Gerald Griffin Memorial School) in Bridge Street, Limerick, between July 1, 1967 and July 31, 1969.
The married father of five, of Broadford Drive, Ballinteer, Dublin, will be placed on the sex offender's registrar for an indefinite period.
After joining the Christian Brothers as a teenager, Drummond taught 55 boys in second class in the Limerick school where he assaulted more than a third of his pupils.
The court yesterday heard that he routinely brought young boys, aged between seven and 10, to the front of the class behind his desk where he put his hand inside their trousers and fondled them.
One boy reported the abuse to his father, who immediately reported it to the school principal. As a result, Drummond was moved onto a higher class and was later transferred to another school in August 1969. He left the Christian Brothers in March 1970. The first formal complaint by a victim was made to Limerick gardai in 2002.
The court heard that some of the victims suffered as a result of the abuse later in life and experienced difficulties with depression, marital problems, alienation from the education system and alcohol, as well as difficulties with the gardai resulting in prison sentences.
Trust
Judge Moran said the abuse committed by Drummond had a traumatic effect on young boys of a vulnerable and impressionable age.
Following an assessment by adult mental health group the Granada Institute, the accused was described as being at low risk of offending again.
Judge Moran noted that after joining the Christian Brothers, an immature Drummond would not have been adequately schooled in matters of sexuality. But the judge added that his offences were "awful events".
He said Drummond, as a teacher of young boys, was in a position of trust but he broke it.
"Notwithstanding all the mitigating factors, having regard to the seriousness of the abuse and that it happened over a continuous period and the boys were so young, I have to impose a prison sentence," the judge said.
Originally from Walkinstown, Dublin, Drummond later married and had five children. He was made redundant from Fiat in the 1980s and also worked as a library assistant as the James Joyce library in UCD before retiring.
The judge refused leave to appeal and ordered that Drummond begin the two-year jail sentence from yesterday.
- Barry Duggan
Irish Independent
