"Never give up"

€300,000 for victim of vicious, degrading abuse Wednesday March 22nd 2006 Ann O'Loughlin A MAN who was subjected to "vicious and demeaning" physical, sexual, emotional and racial abuse while only a young boy in a Kilkenny orphanage was yesterday awarded €300,000. David Connellan was just over six years old when he entered St Joseph's residential institution in Kilkenny in the 1960s. A High Court judge yesterday said that in addition to the physical and sexual abuse the young boy was subjected to at the hands of a female carer, he was abused racially and taunted and made sing "I'm Nobody's child." Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan said he had no doubt whatsoever that over a five-year period while he was a resident at St Joseph's, Kilkenny, Mr Connellan was subjected to physical, sexual, emotional and racial abuse. Mr Connellan, a 46-year-old panel beater and father from near Kilkenny city said outside the court that justice had been done after a 16-year legal battle. "I want to say to other victims, do not give up. "I never knew it would take so long when I started down this road but I am happy with the judgment," he said. The abuse, the judge said was calculated to kill the boy's spirit, as it did. Mr Justice O'Donovan said this abuse affected Mr Connellan's ability to concentrate when he was at school and, as a result, he never achieved his potential. The judge added: "Notwithstanding the appalling ill-treatment to which he was subjected in the course of his upbringing . . . t seems that David Connellan has done remarkably well in life, in that since he left school he has rarely been unemployed and sustained a marriage for 22 years." In his judgment, Mr Justice O'Donovan said the defence accepted liability for the physical and sexual abuse which Mr Connellan said he had experienced at the hands of a female carer; the physical abuse he said he experienced from a male carer and the sexual abuse he experienced at the hands of another male carer. Mr Connellan was placed in an orphanage when just three-weeks old and the High Court heard he was happy until September 1966 when he was over six-years old and he was transferred to St Joseph's, a residential institution where he also attended school. The judge said Mr Conellan told the court when he went to St Joseph's it was a very frightening change and "it was like a dark cloud come down on me". Mr Connellan claimed one female member of staff singled him out to perform sexual acts on her and called him a black bastard and a golliwog. This abuse, he told the court, lasted for about three years. © Irish Independenthttp:http://www.unison.ie/