A former pupil at one of Northern Ireland’s top grammar schools allegedly forced to strip naked and have his head shaved as part of “hazing” initiations on an overseas rugby tour is to receive more than £50,000 in damages, the Belfast High Court heard on Wednesday.
The settlement was announced in Gabriel McConkey’s action over claims he also witnessed other boys from Methodist College Belfast perform acts on a sex toy at their base in Portugal.
Mr McConkey (19) sued the school’s governors for alleged negligence and failure to properly supervise the senior rugby squad on the trip in December 2022. In court on Wednesday it was announced that he is to be paid £52,760 plus legal costs.
Mr McConkey’s family and solicitor declared the outcome a vindication in taking the case. His mother, Sian Mawhinney, said: “The child that we sent on a school trip is not the child that returned home to us, either physically or mentally. He looked absolutely broken by what happened and what he witnessed.”
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Mr McConkey, from the Carryduff on the outskirts of Belfast, was aged 17 and in lower sixth form at Methody when selected to travel to a sports resort on the Algarve for warm-weather training. He alleged that older pupils subjected him and some of the other younger members of the squad to a series of so-called hazing incidents.
According to the statement of claim he was coerced into having his head shaved as part of humiliating rituals. Mr McConkey was also forced to strip off, run along a stretch of path and jump into a swimming pool in a “naked mile” ritual, it was alleged. His lawyers contended that a further incident involved being made to witness other pupils perform acts on a sex toy while wearing women’s underwear.
Proceedings were issued against the school’s board of governors for alleged failures to prevent the hazing episodes and to properly supervise pupils on the rugby tour. The action was listed for a three-day trial but Mr Justice Fowler was informed that a settlement had been reached on the terms disclosed.
Mr McConkey, who is now studying sports coaching at Gloucestershire University, attended court with his family for the outcome. His mother recalled him being “in a state of trauma” following the trip. “As a result of all this Gabriel left school rugby because of the environment.”
The family’s solicitor, Victoria Haddock of Phoenix Law, said: “Our client suffered distressing personal injury arising out of degrading, abusive incidents perpetrated on him during a Methodist College school trip. This occurred at a critical stage of his formative life, in the middle of his gateway exams.”
Ms Haddock added: “He is content that the matter resolved today, and has been vindicated with settlement in his favour of £52,760.”
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