Ex-Brother jailed for 180 indecent assaults

Marese McDonagh
10/03/2005

A former Marist Brother and teacher, jailed yesterday for eight years for 180 counts of indecent assault on six schoolboys, was told by a judge that he and others like him had to be deterred.

The boys, who were abused at St John's National School, Temple Street, Sligo, from 1968 to 1977, were aged from seven to 12 at the time.

Two other former teachers at this school have been convicted of similar offences and cases are pending against a further two.

Christopher Cosgrove (62) of Ballyhaunis Road, Claremorris, Co Mayo, who had denied all the charges, was told by Judge Anthony Kennedy that, as a paedophile, he had abused his position of trust for his own deviant pleasure and sexual excitement.

Imposing sentence at Sligo Circuit Court, the judge said that the offences of the former Marist Brother had been planned and protracted against defenceless victims, knowing that their access to justice was impeded by him. He ordered that the former teacher's name be placed indefinitely on the sex offenders' register.

The court heard that the accused had shown no remorse and continued to maintain his innocence. Leave to appeal was refused by Judge Kennedy.

Judge Kennedy told the former teacher, who left the Marist Order in 1982 and has since married, that he had no compassion or sympathy for the suffering and cruelty he had inflicted on the young boys.

Imposing sentence, Judge Kennedy referred to the number of offences and said that while it would be disproportionate to impose 180 individual sentences, it would equally send out the message that "one might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb" if he imposed sentence in respect of a small number of the offences, taking the remainder into consideration.

Referring to the impact on the six men, Judge Kennedy noted there had been suicide attempts, alcoholism, troubled relationships, an attempt by one man to change his identity, depression, stress and anxiety.

The six men who were abused as children gave evidence during the trial of the impact on their lives.

One recalled that he used to urinate in his trousers rather than ask for permission to go to the toilet because of his fear that the accused would follow him and abuse him. He said that on the day he made his Confirmation, which was also his birthday, Br Cosgrave had sexually assaulted him in the school toilets.

The former pupil said that at the age of 20 he had told a priest in Confession about his ordeal and had been urged to say three Hail Marys and pray for his own forgiveness.

He had dyed his hair and changed his name by deed poll after leaving school because he wanted to obliterate that part of his life.

Another injured party remembered trying to put on weight while he was in national school because he noticed that the defendant didn't pick on fat boys. This witness developed a severe drinking addiction and was an alcoholic at 16.

The judge remarked that the boys had been placed in the pathetic situation where they could not, or would not, tell their parents. The accused had insidiously insinuated himself into the good graces of some of the families involved.

Judge Kennedy spoke of the extraordinary courage and resilience of the injured parties and the crucial role played by one detective, Garda Andrew Brennan, now retired, who had been involved with the investigation since 1999.

In his evidence during the five-day trial, Christopher Cosgrove said he had taken boys on his knee in order to encourage or console them, but insisted he never got sexual gratification from it. Asked why so many former pupils had made allegations against him, he said he did not know, but it was possible they had imagined it from reading newspapers.

Defending senior counsel Roger Sweetman said, that as his client did not accept the jury's verdict, he was limited in what he could say in mitigation.

? The Irish Times