A former school principal jailed for indecently assaulting two students has been told he will spend a further 16 months in prison for indecently assaulting another four boys.
Aidan Clohessy (85) was jailed for four years on Monday for indecently assaulting two boys in the 1980s.
He was convicted of 19 counts of indecent assault in relation to six boys following two separate trials at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last month.
On Tuesday, Judge Martin Nolan imposed sentence in relation to the second trial, in which Clohessy was convicted of five counts of indecently assaulting four boys.
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Two of these counts of indecent assault related to one boy, with one count each in relation to the other three boys. All of these offences took place between 1969 and 1986. Clohessy was acquitted of three further counts of indecent assault.
After hearing facts on Monday, Judge Nolan adjourned the case overnight to consider sentence and the defence’s submission in relation to the totality principle.
Judge Nolan said the indecent assaults were “undoubtedly very serious” for the injured parties, noting that many of the incidents described were “obviously physical chastisement as well”.
He said the aggravating features included that Clohessy was in a position of trust which he betrayed.
The judge also noted that the injured parties were vulnerable and said Clohessy “took advantage of their vulnerability”.
He said there was some “small mitigation”, including Clohessy’s age. Judge Nolan said if this was a stand-alone trial, and Clohessy was younger, he would impose a sentence of between three and four years.
But, the judge said the court had to take into account the totality principle and that Clohessy is already serving a sentence. He imposed a 16-month sentence, which is to run consecutive to the four-year sentence imposed on Monday.
This means Clohessy has received a sentence of five years and four months for his offending against the six injured parties.
A member of the Order of St John of God, Clohessy was the principal of St Augustine’s School, Blackrock, Co Dublin, from the early 1970s until 1993, when he was appointed to lead a mission in Malawi.
Clohessy, with an address at the Hospitaller Order of St John of God, Granada, Stillorgan, Co Dublin, voluntarily returned to Ireland in 2013.
The six boys were all pupils of the school. Some were boarders at the school, which catered for boys with mild to moderate learning disability at that time.
The injured parties were aged between 10 and 13 when Clohessy’s offending took place. The abuse primarily took the form of inappropriate touching, the court heard.
In the first trial, Clohessy was convicted of 14 counts of indecent assault – 10 in relation to one boy and four in relation to a second boy on dates between 1983 and 1985.
The court heard that some of the complainants had no objection to being identified.
