Act of infamy - the Nora Wall story
Added on November 30, 2005Act of infamy - the Nora Wall story
?There are two ways to approach life - as a victim or as a gallant fighter.? The words are those of Nora Wall, an Irish nun falsely accused and jailed for life for ?gang rape? in 1999, released after four days when her false accusers were exposed. But first savagely pilloried by Ireland?s society and media.
She also said, ?Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is as gentle as strength. In time, the reality of this trumped-up case brought its own truth."
Her application for a certificate declaring a miscarriage of justice comes up December 1 2005.
As that date approaches, we are publishing an account here of her ordeal, first some background and then an article written by Rory Connor, one of her defenders, which not only puts forward his own theories as to what forces within Irish society caused such a miscarriage of justice but which also expresses his belief that deliberate lies were published by certain members of the Irish media.
Geraldine Kennedy, the editor of the The Irish Times, responding to his complaints about one of her journalists wrote, ?As you are also seeking a response from her, I will pass on a copy of your letter to (the journalist in question) but I will not be responding myself to the points you have made because the allegations are clearly defamatory.?
Act of infamy ? the Nora Wall story
Background
On July 23 1999, Nora Wall, a nun, was sentenced to life imprisonment for 'gang rape'. During the seven-day trial, the court heard evidence from 21 year old Regina Walsh, a former resident in a home under Nora Wall's supervision, that when she was 10 she was raped in her bed in the home by a former male resident, while the nun held her down by her legs and ankles. A second ex-resident corroborated this by saying she saw it happen through the doorway.
Since first being charged with the rape in April 1997, Nora Wall had made 32 court appearances. After her conviction on July 23, she was committed to Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. Handing out the life sentence, Judge Paul Carney made it clear that he believed the charges against her, making her the first woman in Ireland to be convicted of rape and the first person to be sentenced to life imprisonment for that crime. She was 51.
The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre hailed the severity of his sentence, as ?a landmark decision?. Significantly they also pointed out that the state had responsibility for the home and noted the compensation potential for other ex-inmates, who might now make further disclosures.
Two events of incredible good fortune, or perhaps divine intervention, saved Nora Wall. The first was the accuser Regina Walsh said in an interview with The Staron 17 June 1999 that she had also been raped by a ?black man in Leicester Square? in London. Then a Kilkenny businessman read the same newspaper article and recognised the name of the ?witness? Patricia Phelan as the woman who had made a false allegation against himself. In addition to these two, was the uncovering of a series of procedural blunders by the prosecution. Four days after she was committed to prison, Nora Wall?s conviction for rape was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal on the direction of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The ex-inmate, who had been convicted with her, was also cleared.
This shocking travesty was made all the worse by the incompetence and blind 'pro-victim' mindset of the police and judiciary. The ex-inmate supposed to have carried out the penetration, a homeless outcast, clearly possessed less than normal intelligence, and had obviously been led by the police. The accusation that this nun was involved in a 'gang rape' was outrageous. The media ran with stories of all the other places she had worked in - orphanages in Romania and hostels for homeless men, implying that she had probably done similar things elsewhere. Afterwards, asked how she felt the Irish police had treated her during her ordeal, she said: "I think they could have been nicer to me." It was quite an understatement.
Her family said they would not rest until the full truth emerged, and demanded a full and thorough investigation into what they described as one of the greatest travesties of justice in the history of the State. In the days following her release, there was only one letter in The Irish Times supporting her.
Now perhaps we can re-live that moment before sentencing when Judge Paul Carney listened to a poem written by the ?victim?, Regina Walsh.
Let us again share with him those last words of the poem:
?I know one day life will have its improvements,
but the memories and heartache
will haunt me forever.?
Before Nora Wall?s release, others had joined in this great shame.
The saddest of these was her own Mercy Order, who quickly washed their hands of her after she and the ex-inmate were charged, issuing a statement which read, "We are all devastated by the revolting crimes which resulted in these verdicts. Our hearts go out to this young woman who, as a child, was placed in our care. Her courage in coming forward was heroic. We beg anyone who was abused whilst in our care to go to the Garda? (police)." The young woman their hearts were going out to was the false accuser, not their own innocent nun. Our absolutist system had seduced them into identifying with the accuser and betraying their own sister.
Owen Keenan, chief executive of the Irish Barnardos child care agency, jumping on the bandwagon, said that it was never safe to assume that this kind of abuse had been eliminated from the care system. Those charged with monitoring the system had to be very vigilant and 'have to be prepared to consider the most awful things'.
Such as infamy perhaps.
The implications
As in most of the other international miscarriages of justice, the full reasons for the acquittal were not immediately given, and may not even yet have been fully admitted. The first excuse put out by the state was that she was freed on a technicality, thus leaving the impression that she might still be guilty and that there could be a retrial. Nora Wall?s brother and family stood firmly by her. Her brother said, ?From day one we knew she was innocent. We want the truth first, then we can clear her name, not on a technicality. We want the world to know she?s innocent without a shred of doubt.?
It now appears that they will get that opportunity, as an action against the state for a miscarriage of justice is going forward. Perhaps the full truth will now finally emerge.
The implications are plain and brutal. Since the Nora Wall travesty the state has advertised for victims of residential abuse to come forward, make ?disclosures? and apply for compensation.
The response has been huge. Police, prosecutors, judge and jury in the Nora Wall trial believed Regina Walsh?s bizarre accusations, and in the corroborative evidence of her supporting friend, because it was politically and ideologically correct to do so. Their mindset was that child abuse is rampant, so someone must pay for it and the victims must be compensated. UK barrister Barbara Hewson has just called it ?therapeutic jurisprudence?, an expression of the absolutism spreading its net around us that saw the false witness of the now notorious discredited UK expert witness paediatrician, Professor Roy Meadow, removing children from their homes and putting parents in prison. It appears that 5000 cases where courts broke up families on his advice will now need re-examining.
The doctrine of child abuse has empowered activist groups, in particular organizations such as the UK?s NSPCC and ?the bureaucratic needs of social services agencies?. Hewson goes on: ?Reforms introduced in the name of child protection now involve ?sweeping attacks on traditional Anglo-American legal rights and protections?.? These include the right to due process, to be presumed innocent until proved guilty, to be tried in public, to confront one's accusers, amongst others.
Under the influence of ?moral panics?, judges and juries now employ a form of justice which has ?certain analogies with a Soviet-style conception of justice, which emphasises outcomes over processes, and which requires the judge to carry out social policy, rather than act as an independent arbiter?.
Nora Wall?s trial and imprisonment were acts of infamy. But what have we learned?
Great miscarriage of justice
Rory Connor
(Note from Editor. As what he has written has already been described as ?clearly defamatory? by Geraldine Kennedy, the editor of the The Irish Times,in her only response to his letter, we unfortunately have to censor some of what he says here. This is ironical seeing that the defamation threat comes from a newspaper that appeals for a change in the defamation laws so that it can publish ?the truth?.)
I will begin with two email letters I wrote to local Irish media, RTE and The Irish Times.
Cathal Goan
Director General
RTE
Copied to several RTE editors and journalists
Monday 26 Sep 2005.
Subject: Nora Wall and RTE
Dear Mr. Goan
I am enclosing a copy of a letter to Geraldine Kennedy, editor Irish Times concerning the Nora Wall affair. In view of RTE's close relationship with Mary Raftery (journalist used by both organizations), it is even more relevant to yourself.
A member of Nora Wall's defence team told me around November 1999, that she had been convicted because of a climate of hysteria created by the media and specifically by Mary Raftery's States of Fear series (This was Sean Costello of Frank Ward and Co. Solicitors). The series was first broadcast in April/May 1999. RTE repeated that series in July 2003 just about the time that you were made Director General. I believe you were Director of RTE television at the time. It is barely possible that Mary Raftery and RTE believed the (word removed) lies they (you) were broadcasting in 1999. It is beyond belief that you continued to believe them in 2003.
Moreover RTE radio and television have continued to broadcast similar lies to the present day. On 22 June last on RTE Radio, Vincent Browne conducted an interview with Kathy O'Beirne about her book "Kathy's Story". This woman claimed that she had been in two Magdalen Laundries where she had been raped and otherwise abused by priests and by nuns. She also told stories about babies being starved to death by the nuns and secretly buried. Kathy O'Beirne was never in any Magdalen Laundry. RTE had previously broadcast similar lies by the same lady, (then calling herself Elizabeth) on the Joe Duffy Show. I refer to broadcasting complaint reference 31/04 concerning a Livelive programme by Joe Duffy on 7th October 2003. The Broadcasting Complaints Commission actually found against RTE on that occasion - a very rare event. RTE just went ahead and broadcast similar (word removed) lies by the same woman against the same order of nuns! This is a reprise of the States of Fear saga.
I have frequently compared the anti-clerical broadcasts on RTE to anti-Semitic ravings. Both contain false allegations of rape and also ?blood libels? (lies about child killing which are based on religious hatred).I will go into more detail about this comparison. Some Nazi propagandists really believed the poison they were spouting. This kind of self-deceit is never innocent but it means these people had a certain kind of integrity. (The same applies to sincere Stalinists). The Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels was one of these. Many other Nazis were simply sociopaths who took up politics rather than ?ordinary? crime, because they considered themselves
to be intellectuals. The racist pornographer Julius Streicher falls into this category and he was despised by some of his Nazi colleagues.
Mary Raftery is (words removed). Mr. Goan, (words removed) why do you continue to employ Ms. Raftery?
There are positive steps you could take to make reparation to the religious who have been savagely abused by RTE. Nora Wall's application for a certificate declaring a miscarriage of justice is coming up on 1st December 2005. RTE could commission a three part follow up to States of Fear. The first part could concentrate exclusively on Nora Wall, the second on Mary Raftery's (word removed) allegations against Sister Stanislaus and Sister Conception, which have continued right up to this year, the third on Artane (and in particular her lies about the death of Patsy Flanagan and also about Brother Joseph O'Connor). At some stage in the future these programmes will be made Mr. Goan. Are we supposed to wait until everyone concerned is dead and it makes no difference any more?
Yours faithfully
Rory Connor
(and his address)
Ms. Geraldine Kennedy
Editor
Irish Times
Copied to a number of Irish Times journalists, including Mary Raftery.
Monday 26 Sep 2005.
Subject: Nora Wall
Dear Ms. Kennedy,
On 1st December next the Court of Criminal Appeal are hearing Nora Wall's application for a certificate declaring a miscarriage of justice arising from her quashed rape conviction. Nora Wall's conviction was the vilest miscarriage of justice in the history of the Irish state. There have been cases where the Gardai (Irish police) railroaded people, but at least they believed their victims were guilty. Nora Wall is the sole case where a conviction was obtained as a result of religious hatred. (And if you think that is an exaggeration try asking Mary Raftery if she can quote anything like it from the era of De Valera and John Charles McQuaid.)
The Nora Wall case was the first time in the history of the State that a woman was convicted of rape (10 June 1999), the first time that any person received a life sentence for rape, the only time that a ?witness? was called in spite of a direction from the DPP that the person should not give evidence. The accuser originally claimed that she had been raped by Nora Wall and Pablo McCabe on her 12th birthday - not an easy date to get wrong. Pablo McCabe was in Mountjoy Prison on that date! Was there ever another rape case in which the complainant made a ?mistake? like that but was believed anyway?
The case collapsed because after Nora Wall and Pablo McCabe were found guilty, the accuser and her witness gave an interview to The Star newspaper (17 June 1999). The accuser claimed that she had also been raped by a ?black man in Leicester Square?. It was the first that Nora Wall's defence team had heard of this. Even more crucially The Star named the two women and a Kilkenny businessman recognised the ?witness? as the person who had previously made a rape accusation against himself! (This allegation had been dismissed by a judge).
There were other strange developments. On 23 July when Nora Wall was due to be sentenced her defence team requested a delay in the proceedings so that the new evidence could be fully investigated. The DPP refused and denied that there was a failure to disclose evidence to the defence!
In sentencing Nora Wall, Judge Paul Carney referred to her as a ?gang rapist?. On what other occasion has a judge referred to two people as a ?gang? - especially when the ?leader? is a woman? Is it conceivable that the DPP and Justice Carney were unaware of the significance of the new evidence?
Ms. Kennedy, do you recall the headlines after Nora Wall was found guilty? "Vile Nun", Pervert Nun", "I was Raped by Anti-Christ". If a Jewish woman attracted headlines like "Vile Jewess" or "Anti-Christ" I'm sure you would realise that something was amiss. And do you remember how the Sunday World published a full page article which claimed that Nora Wall had procured children for Father Brendan Smyth? (11 July 1999 "Rape Nun's Abuse Pact with Smyth"; there was no such allegation during he trial but Paul Williams thought that he could get away with anything after Nora Wall was convicted).
After the collapse of the case, I am not aware that the Irish Times ever did a detailed analysis of what went wrong. How could such ghastly ?errors? be made and what motivated the people who lied about the former Sister Dominic and screamed obscene abuse at her? Yet if it was a case of Catholics screaming abuse at Protestants or making false allegations against African immigrants, I'm sure that journalists like Fintan O'Toole or Mary Raftery would be only too eager to investigate. And they would do so at great length. What are your investigative journalists doing now Ms. Kennedy? What will they be writing in December - short articles at the bottom of page 5 perhaps?
Yours sincerely
Rory Connor
PS The following material from www.voicesemerge.com should provide some useful background information if the Irish Times wants to do a detailed analysis of the Nora Wall story. However I think that what you lack is not information but the motivation to clean out a cesspit created by ?liberals?.
From the Voicesemerge web site.
1) DATE SET FOR EX-NUN'S RAPE CASE APPLICATION
Irish Times 22 July 2005
[This was at the bottom of page 5 of the Irish Times. Can you imagine how they would react if a black immigrant woman had been treated as vilely as Nora Wall? For ?liberal? Ireland, concepts like tolerance and multi-culturalism have very limited applications. In particular they do NOT apply to the Catholic Church].
The Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) has fixed December 1st for the hearing of an application by a former nun, Nora Wall, for a certificate declaring a miscarriage of justice arising from her quashed conviction for rape.
The DPP has already told the appeal court he will not be contesting the application. However, the court will still have to decide whether a certificate should be granted. If Ms Wall secures a certificate declaring a miscarriage of justice, this will entitle her to pursue a claim for damages against the State.
In November 1999, the DPP accepted ?fully and ungrudgingly? that Ms Wall and Paul ?Pablo? McCabe were entitled to be presumed innocent of all charges brought against them. The court was also told on that occasion that the DPP regretted ?the errors which occurred in relation to the handling of this case by the prosecution?.
The court had quashed the convictions of both Ms Wall and Mr McCabe in July 1999, following a number of errors in their trial in June 1999.
Both were convicted of the rape of a 12-year-old girl in St Michael's Child Care Centre, Co Waterford in 1990. Mr McCabe, a homeless man, had been arrested in October 1996 and charged with the rape of the girl. Ms Wall, formerly Sr Dominic, was also charged. Both denied the charges. Ms Wall was sentenced to life imprisonment and Mr McCabe was jailed for 12 years.
A notice of appeal was immediately lodged, citing grounds including an interview the alleged victim and her friend, a corroborative witness, had given to the Star newspaper. In this, the alleged victim said she had been raped in England. Ms Wall and Mr McCabe were released on bail. Mr McCabe has since died.
When the appeal came before the CCA in July 1999, the DPP did not oppose it. In November 1999, the DPP announced he would not be seeking a retrial.
2)?I WAS NAILED TO THE CROSS ? NOT ON THE HILL OF CALVARY, BUT ON EVERY TV SCREEN AND NEWSPAPER?
Irish Examiner, February 06, 2004 by M?che?l Lehane
Nora Wall was sentenced to life in prison after she was wrongly convicted of raping a nine-year-old girl. She can still hear the screaming crowds hurling obscenities at her outside the Four Courts when, along with Pablo McCabe, she was found guilty in June 1999.
In the days that followed she became the ?face of evil? in a manner similar to Myra Hindley.
The TV documentary States of Fear (made by Mary Raftery), which showed widespread child abuse in religious-run institutions, had been broadcast earlier that year, and Nora Wall's face became the new embodiment of these heinous crimes.
The former Mercy nun, 56, is soon expected to get a certificate proving she was the victim of a miscarriage of justice after the DPP indicated this week he will not contest her application.
The certificate will at last allow Ms Wall to pursue damages against the State. However, the immense pain she endured since first questioned about the alleged rape of the girl at St Michael's Childcare Centre in Cappoquin, Co Waterford, on an unknown date in 1987 or 1988, will never fade.
She had spent her working life caring for children and was described by her superiors as an ?exceptionally kind and considerate professional?. This counted for little, though, on the day she was arrested and questioned about the alleged rape, in October 1996. Ms Wall said only her faith and the support of family and friends got her through the horrific four-year ordeal.
"I was nailed to the cross not on the hill of Calvary but on every TV screen and newspaper," she told the Irish Catholic newspaper.
"My way on the cross couldn't have been more painful, extreme or despising. Everything was there aplenty cross, condemnations, nails, thorns, spears, sponge, towels, helpers, rejections, disowning, consolers, public stripping and lashings by the media."
Ms Wall and Mr McCabe's convictions were quashed four days after the sentences were handed down. Mr McCabe has since died. It emerged the DPP had ordered that a key prosecution witness should not have been called to give evidence in the trial.
The fact that the alleged victim had spent time in psychiatric hospitals and made a rape allegation against another man in England cast further doubts on the 11-1 guilty verdict.
At the Court of Criminal Appeal in November 1999 the DPP said he ?fully and ungrudgingly? accepted the former nun and Mr McCabe were entitled to be presumed innocent of all charges.
Ms Wall said she was helped through her darkest hour by people who believed her story.
"There were chinks of hope?, she said. ?There are always two ways to approach life as a victim or as a gallant fighter. There were people who got together in groups and pledged their unyielding support to me and my family. There were others who, like Peter, said: 'Stand aside, I know not this person'."
This kindness was also evident in Mountjoy Prison, where she found herself beginning a life term. The words of one prison officer are forever etched in her memory: "We are not here to judge you or condemn you: we are here to help you and do what is best for you," the officer said.
Ms Wall has not lost her faith in humanity following the gruelling experience. She remains convinced that values such as kindness and fairness are worth defending.
"Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is as gentle as strength. In time, the reality of this trumped-up case brought its own truth."
3) THE INNOCENTS CUT DOWN BY THE AVENGERS OF ABUSE
November 28 1999
(Rory Connor found this on the Internet with no author or newspaper indicated]
One of the most riveting pieces of radio in a long time was broadcast last Monday. On the Pat Kenny Show, Breda O'Brien, a Sunday Business Post columnist, challenged Mary Raftery, producer of States of Fear, on aspects of the RTE journalist's new book about Ireland's industrial and reform schools.
Challenged is an understatement. O'Brien came rampaging out of her corner like the young George Foreman. She landed the knockout punch in the first round as she demolished a central allegation contained in Raftery's book - Suffer the Little Children - that a boy fell to his death in suspicious circumstances in the Christian Brothers' Artane industrial school in the 1950s.
O'Brien used documents accessible to all, such as the coroner's and police reports, to show that while a boy did indeed die after a fall at the school, there was nothing suspicious about the circumstances.
That this story has already been carried in several newspapers shows how far journalistic standards have fallen with respect to claims of abuse made against members of religious orders. It seems that because fearsome things did happen in industrial and reform schools, journalists no longer feel obliged to check the accuracy of each allegation.
Take the Nora Wall case. Almost everyone, myself included, simply assumed that she and Pablo McCabe were guilty as charged of raping Regina Walsh at a children's home. Last week it was formally decided that they should not be retried following the quashing of their sentences earlier this year. It is clear that they should never have been put on trial in the first place. This was apparent right from the start to the handful - Kevin Myers among them - who read the trial proceedings with a sceptical eye.
The atmosphere is now such that it has become possible to make such allegations.
Also, it has made it all but impossible to even question the way in which child abuse claims are covered by newspapers and dealt with by the judicial system. If you do so, it opens you to the terrible charge that you don't care about the victims, or worse, that you are soft on child abusers.
These were the sort of charges directed at O'Brien for having the temerity to challenge some of what Raftery and her co-author, Eoin O'Sullivan, say in their book.
After her clash with Raftery, the big newspapers, if they were worth their salt, would have followed up her leads and checked out the accuracy of the rest of Raftery's book. If the roles had been reversed, and O'Brien had written a book about the industrial schools which praised the role of the religious orders, and it was Raftery who was pointing out basic errors of fact, the media would have set upon the book like a pack of hounds. Instead the only sound we heard from the newspapers was a deafening silence; the silence of the lambs.
Instead of taking Raftery to task, O'Brien was turned on for daring to show her up. On Friday, Cooney lined her up in his sights in the Irish Independent and she was made to account for herself on the Pat Kenny Show.
Justice is often portrayed as a woman, blindfolded to symbolise her impartiality, holding in one hand the scales to show she is interested in both sides of any story, and holding in her other hand a sword with which to punish the guilty. With respect to members of religious orders, justice has removed her blindfold and laid down her scales. She wields only her sword.
When she does, she is no longer justice. She has become something entirely different. She has become revenge. This is what is now stalking the land, striking down the innocent along with the guilty.
A letter to the editor of the Irish Times from Rory Connor
Geraldine Kennedy, Editor, Irish Times
17 April 2005
Dear Ms. Kennedy,
I am enclosing some articles which I have written concerning Mary Raftery and her accusations of child killing and child abuse directed against the Catholic Church.
In summary:
The Death of Patsy Flanagan
Mary Raftery has accused the Christian Brothers of being responsible for the death of the boy Patsy Flanagan who died following a fall from a staircase in Artane in February 1951. When her ?witness? produced three contradictory accounts of the incident (one of which got the date wrong by 5 years), Ms. Raftery tried to square the circle by claiming that a few boys had died in this manner! She produced not a scrap of evidence to support this allegation.
There was an inquest which found the death of Patsy Flanagan to be an accident. Mary Raftery does not mention this in her book. Did she not know about it or did she deliberately conceal this evidence?
Sister Stanislaus and Sister Conception
Mary Raftery has, on several occasions, accused Sister Stanislaus Kennedy of failing to act when she was informed of child abuse in the 1970s in St. Joseph's orphanage, Kilkenny. The social worker, who is supposed to have informed her, wrote to the Irish Times to say that he himself was unaware in 1977 that sex abuse was involved and that he only became aware of this in 1995 i.e. nearly 20 years after he is supposed to have informed Sister Stan (Letters page 22 December 1999). This precisely matches what Sister Stan said when Mary Raftery first made her allegation (in the States of Fear series and the book Suffer the Little Children). Yet Ms. Raftery repeats the accusation in her article on 3 March last. She makes a similar accusation against Sister Conception and the late Bishop Birch, in spite of the fact that on 1st March the President of the High Court, Mr. Justice Finnegan, specifically exonerated them in his judgment in the case of R. Noctor-v.-Ireland, The Attorney General and Others. (Mary Raftery does not dispute his judgment concerning this issue; she ignores it).
Mary Raftery claimed that Sister Stanislaus had denounced a civil servant on the Kennedy Committee for failing to give credit to the Church for its social work. The three civil servants at the relevant meeting told journalist Breda O'Brien that no such episode had occurred. (One also wrote to the Irish Times to confirm this). This is by no means the most serious allegation made by Mary Raftery. It is important because it can be easily shown to be (untrue). And the (untruth) is obviously linked to other tales told by Ms Raftery about Sister Stan and about the Catholic Church.
Brother Joseph O'Connor
(Words removed)/(untruth) is Mary Raftery's attack on the late Brother Joseph O'Connor who was the Christian Brother responsible for the Artane Boys Band. She claims he was a vicious child abuser. She alleges that a man abused by him was so distraught that he hung around the Mater Hospital for days when Brother O'Connor was dying. He then went into the hospital and lifted the sheet from his body to confirm that Brother O'Connor was dead. Brother Joseph O'Connor did not die in the Mater Hospital. (The same question arises as with the inquest on Patsy Flanagan - did Mary Raftery not bother to check this extraordinary story or did she [words removed]?)
I assume that Mary Raftery [words removed] about Brother O'Connor for the same reason she [words removed] about Sister Stanislaus i.e. they are both well known Catholics and demonising them is a way of getting at the Church.
Nora Wall
Mary Raftery's treatment of the Nora Wall scandal in her book is grossly misleading. She fails to state that Nora Wall's two accusers had made a string of rape allegations against various people. Above all she fails to mention the main reason for the collapse of the trial i.e. a man read an article about the case in The Star newspaper and recognised one of the women as the person who had made a false allegation against himself!
I was told by one of Nora Wall's defense team (Sean Costello of Frank Ward and Co. Solicitors) that she had been convicted because of a climate of hysteria created by the media and specifically by the States of Fear series!
Anti-Semitism and Anti-Clericalism
In his book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer has this to say about Hitler's favourite anti-Semite Julius Streicher: "A famous fornicator, he made his fame and fortune as a blindly fanatical anti-Semite. His notorious weekly Der Stuermer thrived on lurid tales of Jewish sexual crimes and Jewish "ritual murders"; its obscenity was nauseating even to many Nazis".
Ms. Kennedy, if even some Nazis were nauseated by Julius Streicher, (words removed)? Do you believe that anti-clerical hatred is morally superior to the Nazi variety? You will note that they both involve allegations of sexual crimes and of child killing.
I intend to distribute this material as widely as possible. If yourself or Mary Raftery feel that any of it is mistaken, please let me know within the next week and I will take your views on board. In the meantime I will send this to the National Union of Journalists only.
Yours sincerely,
Rory Connor
Reply from Editor, The Irish Times
Mr. Rory Connor
April 21st 2005
Dear Mr. Connor,
Thank you for your letter of April 17th and its attachments.
I note from your letter your accusation not just that Mary Raftery has been mistaken in much that she has written but that she has written as fact things that were untrue and that she knew to be untrue.
As you are also seeking a response from her, I will pass on a copy of your letter to Ms. Raftery but I will not be responding myself to the points you have made because the allegations are clearly defamatory.
Yours sincerely,
Geraldine Kennedy
Editor
His response to the editor
29 April 2005
Geraldine Kennedy
Editor
Irish Times
Dear Ms Kennedy
Thanks for your reply dated 21 April which I received on the 26th.
I actually sent all of the material to Mary Raftery by registered post on 18 April. I also copied it to the National Union of Journalists as I believe that Ms. Raftery must have breached every article of their Code of Conduct. I have not yet received a reply from her and I am now distributing this material as widely as possible. I understand that the NUJ will only accept a complaint if it comes from another journalist so I am concentrating on journalists.
(Whole paragraph removed)
and
(Whole paragraph removed)
Yours sincerely,
Rory Connor
(As the December 2005 date for Nora Wall's application for a certificate for miscarriage of justice approached, and supporters like the above attempted to expose the causes of the shocking injustice committed against her, more corruption emerged as it was revealed that the solicitors involved in assisting the former state residents seeking compensation under the Redress Board had themselves committed fraud on a large scale. Mechanisms of corruption set up by the state breed more corruption.)
The media betrayed her and revealed their own agendas
Rory Connor writes: ?The following vile article by Paul Williams was published by the Sunday World after Nora Wall?s conviction for rape and before the collapse of the case against her and the reversal of the guilty verdict. Nora Wall is accused of procuring children for a paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth. No such allegation was made during the trial. The Sunday World. apparently believed that, since she was a convicted felon, they could get away with anything.
Nora Wall sued the Sunday World and got damages of 175,000 Euros. The case was buried by our ?liberal? media. I noticed only a brief article in Phoenix magazine on 8 November 2002 that failed to specify the name of the journalist or the nature of the libel.
Let us suppose that 50 years ago (in the ?Age of de Valera? and of Archbishop McQuaid) a Jewish woman was treated as viciously as Nora Wall has been. Our anti-clerical journalists would be screaming about it still. Why the silence about Nora Wall?
When on 1st December 2005, the Court of Criminal Appeal will consider Nora Wall?s application for a certificate declaring a miscarriage of justice will our journalists redeem themselves then by doing an honest report of the case and its implications?
Or will we witness another cover-up?
Rory Connor
18 October 2005
Sunday World July 11, 1999 (front page)
Rape Nun?s Abuse Pact with Smyth
EXCLUSIVE by PAUL WILLIAMS
EVIL NUN Nora Wall, convicted for helping to rape a ten-year-old child, also secretly provided children for sick paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth.
The >Sunday World has learned that the depraved cleric regularly visited St. Michael?s Childcare Centre in County Waterford where Wall ? then known as Sister Dominic ? was working.
Last month Wall was the first woman to be convicted of rape in Ireland.
She was found guilty of helping to hold down a ten year old child who was in her care while her drunken accomplice Paul McCabe raped her.
FULL SHOCKING STORY: Page 6
Victims claim Evil Wall provided kids to the Paedo Priest
Victims of evil nun Nora Wall have claimed that she provided children to paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth.
Nora Wall (51) is the first woman in the Republic to be convicted of rape.
Last month she was found guilty of holding down a 10 year old girl while depraved drunk Paulo McCabe raped her.
McCabe has also been convicted of the rape which took place at St. Michael?s care home in Cappoquin in County Waterford which was run by Wall.
But this week a counsellor who works with the victims of this horror home revealed that Fr. Brendan Smyth may have abused children there.
Recognised
And she was supported by a former male inmate who was also sexually abused in the home.
According to the sources who spoke to the Sunday World yesterday victims at the home instantly recognised the paedophile priest when his picture was first shown on newspapers and on television.
Gardai (the Irish police) are now understood to be investigating what links he had with Cappoquin throughout the 1970s.
?I remember a priest who used to come to the home regularly and bring children with him on trips to Donegal. That priest was Fr. Brendan Smyth? said the victim who did not wish to be identified.
And the counsellor who has been working with the victims told us: ?The information is very reliable and also very disturbing.?
The claims are now likely to lead to a much larger Garda investigation into the possibility that Nora Wall, who is due for sentence in two weeks, was part of a religious-based paedophile ring.
A number of victims who came forward to help put Nora Wall behind bars have already been asked by Gardai about the sick cleric who destroyed the lives of at least 100 children and brought down a Government.
Respected
Smyth is known to have travelled throughout the country both north and south, sexually abusing innocent children and using his position as a ?respected? cleric to get away with it.
Nora Wall was convicted last month on two charges of raping Regina Walsh when she was just ten years old.
The offences took place between January 1987 and January 1990.
Regina Walsh, who is now 21, told the Central Criminal Court how Wall held her legs while her ?friend? Paul McCabe, a decrepit drunk, raped her.
Wall also molested and sexually assaulted the innocent youngster who was put into the nun?s care at the age of six.
The tot asked the woman who would be her tormentor: ?Are you going to be my mammy??
Said Regina of her ordeal: ?She (Wall) beat us with sticks, pots and pans, a chain, but mostly with her fists.?
Ordeal
Wall?s victims are now planning to sue the Sisters of Mercy and the authorities for allowing them to suffer such an appalling ordeal.
And they want a much more extensive Garda investigation to expose other child abusers at the home and the involvement of clerical pa
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