Order failed to notify gardaí of abuse claim
A religious order tonight admitted that it failed to notify the Gardaí about abuse allegations against a priest who carried out a “reign of terror” in Newbridge College.
The Provincialate Dominican Order said it had received the complaint about the college’s former headmaster, Fr Vincent Mercer, in 1995.
“It was notified to our solicitors but the victim at the time asked that it not be notified to the Gardaí,” said spokesman Fr Pat Lucey.
The Gardaí did not learn of the allegations against the 58-year-old priest until 2003, when further victims came forward.
Fr Mercer was given a three-year suspended sentence today at Naas Circuit Criminal Court for sexually abusing six schoolboys in Newbridge College, as well as two more boys at a holiday camp in Cork, between 1970 and 1977.
Judge Raymond Groake said he had carried out a “reign of terror” in abusing vulnerable first and second-year students.
Fr Lucey said the Order would now deal differently with such complaints.
“Things will have changed now to the way they were in 1995. There’s a different procedure in place now.”
The Provincialate Dominican Order stated in court through its lawyers that it would waive the statute of limitations so that victims of Fr Mercer, who were abused up to 35 years ago, could sue for compensation.
Fr Lucey said he believed that the victims of Fr Mercer had got justice in court.
“There was a very lengthy judgment given by the judge. When I was sitting there, he was very precise and very fair.”
He added: “People have different feelings about it and each individual will react in his own way.”
Mercer, who is based at the Provincialate Dominican headquarters in Tallaght, Dublin, walked free from the court after the sentence was announced.
Judge Groake said he was satisfied that the priest was at a low risk of re-offending and that his movements were monitored day and night under the Dominicans’ strict protocol.
He said the victims were entitled to see punishment administered to Mercer but he did not know if that would bring closure to them.
Mercer, whose hands were shaking as he stood in the dock, issued a personal apology to his victims.
“I unreservedly am aware of the terrible and grievous harm I have caused these men in my breach of trust,” he said.
He said he regretted all the hurt and pain they had experienced and added that he wanted to apologise to his family and his colleagues in the Dominican order for his betrayal.
Earlier, the court heard that Mercer had admitting fondling an 11-year-old-boy in a bath at the Dominican-run Knockadoon holiday camp in Youghal, Co Cork, in 1970.
The investigating officer, Sergeant Kevin Lavelle, said the boy tried to get out but was held down for 10 minutes. He cried himself to sleep that night but awoke to find Mercer fondling him again.
Sgt Lavelle said Mercer told the boy not to say anything because if he did his father could lose his job as a gardener with the Dominicans.
He said Mercer admitted to indecently assaulting a 10-year-old boy at the same camp two years later.
The priest then proceeded to sexually assault six boys at Newbridge College in County Kildare between 1974 and 1977, first as a junior dean and later as headmaster.
The court heard that his “modus operandi” was to visit the dormitories of vulnerable first and second-year students late at night when the lights were off. He would sit down on his victim’s bed and fondle them under the bedclothes.
Sgt Lavelle said that one victim, who was assaulted on 10 separate occasions during the first six months of 1975, never told anyone what had happened because he was afraid and did not think he would be believed.
Mercer visited the college’s infirmary to assault three of the victims. The court heard that one of them wished he would become more unwell so that he would be taken to hospital and away from Mercer.
Mercer used a thermometer to check the temperature of the private parts of another victim, and did so a second time, saying that he was not happy with the results.
Sgt Lavelle said the offences came to light after Mercer was given a six-month jail sentence in 2003 at Naas District Court for indecently assaulting a first-year pupil at Newbridge College.
Mercer admitted abusing eight further victims in a voluntary statement later that year.
Sgt Lavelle told the court that the victims, two of whom were present in court, had told him they had been robbed of their childhood, their sexuality and their trust in people.
“One of them commented to me that it wasn’t the actual assault itself, it was the waiting for it to happen,” he said.
Senior Counsel Patrick Gageby, representing Mercer, said his client had been taken away from all contact with children by his Order, after it received a complaint about him in 1995. He had attended rehabilitation courses since then at the Lucy Faithful Institute in England and the Granada Institute in Ireland.
However, he told Judge Groake that his “predatory” client had committed a grave breach of trust in his position of responsibility.
“He did focus his attention in a deliberate way on young boys who were vulnerable,” he said.
