A FORMER school teacher has denied 78 counts of indecently assaulting 13 children at a primary school in the Limerick area over a three year period during the late 70s and early 80s.
Following a number of days of legal argument, a jury has been sworn in for the trial of the man which is expected to last four weeks at Limerick Circuit Court.
The accused, who can not be named for legal reasons but who has an address in Dublin, was arraigned on all 78 charges and pleaded not guilty during a process that took the court registrar almost half an hour to read.
According to the State, the incidents include allegations of forcible kissing, touching of the boys genitals and buttocks both inside and outside their trousers during class. It is also alleged that the incidents are said to have occurred in cloakrooms during a physical eduction class and also in a boiler-room at the school.
The allegations relate to a period at the Limerick school between September 1, 1978 and June 30, 1981.
In one of the incidents read out before the court, a pupil was made to stand in a cardboard box in the middle of a hall while he was indecently assaulted.
A jury of seven men and five women has been sworn for the trial at Limerick Circuit Court before Judge John Hannon.
In his opening address at the trial, prosecution counsel for the State John O’Sullivan said that the accused man is charged with a number of charges but that this does not ease the burden of proof on the prosecution.
“These events are alleged to have occurred in the late 70s and early 80s but despite their historic nature the law permits that charges can be brought when there has been such a passage of time.
“However, there will be evidence from the alleged injured parties, all 13 of them, and it is the prosecution case that this will be proven beyond reasonable doubt.
Mr O’Sullivan said the charges before the court are of indecent assault, “namely the unlawful touching of boys that was indecent in the eyes of the community”.
“At the times pertinent, it is the State’s case that the accused was a teacher in the school and that he indecently assaulted some of the children in his charge and in the nature described.
Mr O’Sullivan said that case will follow time-spans which equate to the educational school year.
“They were subjected to certain acts during the school year. The teacher touched them indecently as he was in a dominant position. He preyed upon the boys in the classes for his own sexual gratification and they submitted to what was going on.
The jury was told that the case was not about generalities, but the specifics of the evidence.
“Credibility is going to be at the heart of this case”, Mr O’Sullivan added as he asked to jury to consider that the passage of time does not dilute the credibility of the witnesses.
The trial before Judge John Hannon will begin to hear evidence next Tuesday morning.
