Publication date:
An 89-year-old former member of a religious order has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for non-recent sexual abuse of young boys carried out while he was a teacher and principal at several schools in Northern Ireland.
The Judge at Belfast Crown Court sentenced Paul Dunleavy, a former Christian Brother to 10 years imprisonment for 36 counts of sexual abuse related offences involving nine victims. Due to the number of victims and the scale of the offending over a long timeframe, he has been prosecuted in three separate trials. He has now been convicted of a total of 72 offences involving 18 victims in these trials. The offences in the cases cover a period from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Acting Head of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) Serious Crime Unit Catherine Kierans, who prosecuted the case, said:
“Dunleavy is a calculating predator who used his standing in the community to methodically groom and sexually abuse boys as young as 7. He is now an elderly man, but when he committed these offences, he was a dominant and intimidating figure who instilled fear in his victims. He exerted control in the most despicable ways over young boys with whose care he had been entrusted as a teacher and a school principal.
“Dunleavy has been convicted of offences involving 18 victims, but the actual number of his victims is likely to be much higher. We believe him to be one of the most prolific child sexual abusers convicted in this jurisdiction.
“He often targeted boys who were already vulnerable, including some whose fathers had died. He would pretend to take a genuine interest in and care for his victims but this was simply a manipulative tactic so he could exploit and abuse them. His outwardly respectable position in the community meant that it was even more difficult for victims to come forward at the time, with many fearing they would not be believed.
“These complex cases involved the victims’ accounts from their childhoods decades ago. We worked closely with the Police Service of Northern Ireland who carried out a thorough investigation to build and present these compelling cases against Dunleavy. Despite the strength of the evidence against him, he denied his guilt until the very end, but juries in the three separate trials found him guilty.”
Ms Kierans paid tribute to the courage and dignity of Dunleavy’s victims.
“The impact of his cruel crimes on his victims is plain to see. Many have given accounts of how his abuse has affected their entire lives including some who struggled with education, work, mental health, addiction and relationships,” she said.
“It would not have been possible to hold Dunleavy to account without the courage of the victims. By denying his guilt, he put his victims through the painful experience of having to give evidence in court. We recognise how difficult and traumatic it was for all the victims to have to relive their ordeal as part of the criminal justice process.
“We want to assure victims that we in the PPS take cases involving sexual abuse extremely seriously. We will carefully and objectively consider every case that we receive from police. This case shows that offending that happened years or even decades before can and will be robustly prosecuted where we have the evidence to do so. If you have been a victim of sexual offences, please report it to police. We work with police to ensure that victims are always treated with empathy and sensitivity.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- Following Dunleavy’s trial which started in December 2022, he was found guilty of all 13 counts of child sexual offences involving five victims.
- Following Dunleavy’s trial in June 2023, he was found guilty of all 23 counts of child sexual offences involving four victims.
- Following Dunleavy’s trial in September 2024, he was found guilty of 36 counts of child sexual abuse involving nine victims. He had faced 37 counts and the jury was directed by the judge to find him not guilty on one count.
- All decisions by the PPS are taken strictly in accordance with the Test for Prosecution which involves two stages. The Test for Prosecution is met if, in relation to an identifiable suspect, the available evidence is sufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of a conviction (the Evidential Test) and if prosecution is in the public interest (the Public Interest Test). The Evidential Test must be passed first before the Public Interest Test is considered. Further information can be found in the PPS Code for Prosecutors.
- Media queries for the PPS should be referred to the Communications Unit by emailing ppspressoffice@ppsni.gov.uk inside office hours. The out of hours press officer can be contacted on 07920 271804, 07920 418844 or 07341 800254.