Ex-teacher sentenced to 10 further years for sex abuse
A former teacher and school principal has been sentenced to a further 10 years in prison for historical child sex abuse.
Paul Dunleavy, with an address at Glen Road in Belfast, was found guilty of 36 charges of historical sexual abuse against former pupils in September.
The offences were committed on dates between 1964 and 1991 while the 89-year-old Christian Brother worked at four schools in Belfast, Newry and Armagh.
He is already serving a prison sentence having been convicted previously on two separate occasions of sexual offences against children in his care.
In total, he has been convicted of 72 counts involving 18 victims across three trials.
Dunleavy is still a Christian Brother despite his convictions.
BBC News NI asked the organisation if they had a response to his victimsâ calls for both an apology and clarity from them on what they knew about his offending, and when.
The organisation has declined to comment, but said: âThe Congregation cannot comment on matters that are the subject of ongoing proceedings.â
Two of his victims have shared their stories with BBC News NI. Both wanted to remain anonymous.
âYou realise the monster is in schoolâ
James, not his real name, was abused while at St Aidanâs Primary School in west Belfast.
It was the 1970s and the Troubles were raging on the streets outside the school, but the danger, he said, lay inside.
âAs I described school for me, it was a horror movie outside.
âYou were running in as they do, and all the kids run upstairs and lock the doors and then realise the monster is in there.â
James said school should have been an escape from the âmadnessâ outside.
He said for years he tried to bury the abuse but struggled to cope.
âWas that the reason why Iâm like this? Full of addictions, the amount of jobs Iâve had over my lifetime you could run a list of them all, always being good at the start then self-destruct happened,â he said.
âRobbed me of any childhood memoriesâ
Dennis, not his real name, was abused while at the Abbey Primary School in Newry.
He said he still suffers from serious mental health issues, including self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
He hasnât told many people about what happened to him, not even close family members.
âI grew up hating my name, how I looked, basically I just hated everything about myself,â Dennis said.
He has blanked a lot out.
âWhat it has done is basically rob me of any childhood memories.
âIâve flashes. My sister would talk to me, and say do you remember this, do you remember that? I can remember the beatings, I can remember the slaps.â
The jury at this most recent trial was told Paul Dunleavy was already in prison for similar offences.
There were reporting restrictions around the earlier trials.
The first file relating to allegations against him was submitted to the PPS in 2011.
âPriests and brothers got away with itâ
Dunleavyâs denial of the offences was âdevastatingâ for James.
âItâs as if weâre still telling lies, because he denied it.
He says he has forgiven Dunleavy but it is a constant process.
âTo forgive him was the only way to get rid of it, itâs the only way for me to carry on.
âBut it comes back, it doesnât last â you can forgive him in the morning and want to kill him in the afternoon. Itâs a thing I have to deal with day in and day out.â
James says he believes there are people who suffered at the hands of Dunleavy who havenât come forward yet. And others who havenât made it.
âl have got friends in the graveyard over this, that didnât get the chance, that werenât able to cope with the mental load and buried themselves in drugs and alcohol and werenât able to get through it.â
Dennis said he wishes he could have done more to stop Dunleavy.
âThereâs a lot of guilt there because you did not speak up and itâs only now youâre finding out about the amount of people thatâs come after you,â Dennis said.
âYouâve that guilt there and it lives with you every day, that if you had have opened your mouth and said something maybe it would have been nipped in the bud.â
âBack in them days priests, brothers, all of it, they could do whatever they wanted, they got away with it.
âItâs only now people are finding out what they were really like.â
If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story, help and support can be found at BBC Action Line.