Former Christian Brother caused ‘absolute fear’, court hears

“When we’d go into the office he always locked the door. Anytime we went in he locked the door,” the complainant told the court.

He added that Mr Dunleavy, during one incident, “put me on his knee and started touching me. He opened my trousers”, before proceeding to sexually abuse him.

“This happened four or five times from what I remember,” he said.

The man also described how he had a difficult time at school and stopped attending from a young age.

The complainant said that in June 2018, he told his sister that he was abused when he was at school after seeing a television report regarding Mr Dunleavy.

He said he went to the police the following day and made a statement.

Under cross-examination, the defence barrister Gary McHugh questioned the year in which the man claimed the abuse happened and whether Mr Dunleavy worked at St Aidan’s during that period.

The man admitted he couldn’t recall the exact age he was but said he was around nine or ten years old when was abused at St Aidan’s and said that Mr Dunleavy there.