This article is from page 9 of the 2014-07-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
THE Judge presiding over the trial of a Clare teacher convicted of indecently assaulting his pupils over a 21year period told the jury they were entitled to convict beyond a reasonable doubt if they accepted the evidence of the complainants.
Judge Gerald Keyes was addressing the jury of seven women and five men at the conclusion of the 11-day trial at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday.
Pat Barry (80), of Well Road, Kilkee, was found guilty by the jury of 59 counts of indecently assaulting 11 female pupils at Moyasta National School between 1964 and 1985.
Mr Barry, who served as principal from 1964 to 1989, denied all charges. Prior to the verdicts being returned, Judge Keyes directed the jury to find Mr Barry not guilty on eight of the original 67 counts.
In his charge to the jury, Judge Keyes told them they must “scrutinize” the evidence of each of the complainants especially as this was a case where there was no corroboration or independent witnesses.
He told the jury they must be careful to consider the possibility of “collusion” particularly as this was a case with a number of complainants.
He said the fact the allegations concerned events that occurred between 20 and 40 years ago made the jury’s task all the more difficult.
He noted that the delay between the time of the assaults and the matters being investigated and prosecuted made the case harder to defend than to prosecute.
However the Judge said the law does state that old cases cannot not be prosecuted.
He reminded the jury they must be “much more careful” in their consideration of the evidence.
“You’ve heard the evidence. Apply your common sense”, he added.
Judge Keyes told the jury they must treat each of the 59 counts separately as if they were each separate trials.
“Do not allow yourself to say if the accused did it once, he did it twice”, he said. Judge Keyes told the jury that three types of indecent conduct had been outlined by the women.
He said the behaviour alleged involved girls being called to the front of the class and placed between Mr Barry’s legs as he sat at his desk.
Another type of assault involved the accused sitting beside girls at their desks and touching them inappropriately.
He said the other allegation involved Mr Barry holding girls between his legs while he sat at a high stool.
He told the jury all 12 of them must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the alleged conduct occurred. He said evidence had been given that Mr Barry was a violent man in the classroom.
The Judge told the jury that this case was not about about corporal punishment or whether Mr Barry was a violent man.
“Don’t let the issue of violence cloud your mind or colour your thinking”, he said.
“This is not the issue in this case”, he added. After the jury returned their unanimous guilty verdicts at 2.39pm on Friday afternoon, Judge Keyes thanked them for their “diligence”, “attention” and “time keeping” over the three weeks.