Former Christian brother and teacher (88) jailed for sexual abuse of boys 50 years ago

Sonya McLean

A former Christian brother and teacher has been jailed for four years for the continual sexual abuse of eight boys he was teaching in first class in primary school in the 1970s.

The court heard that Jack Manning (88) would call each of the boys up to the top of the class and make them read a book that was sitting on his desk.

He would then bring the boy in close and sexually abuse them by touching their bottom, penis and genitals both inside and outside of their clothing. He would call up the next boy when that boy had returned to his seat.

Manning who currently lives in a nursing home on Dunsink Lane, in Blanchardstown, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Court to 14 charges of indecent assault at CBS, Westland Row, Dublin 2, on dates in 1973 and 1974.

The court heard that there were 74 charges in total and these pleas were accepted on the basis that they represented sample charges.

The men, who were classmates, have indicated they wish to retain their anonymity but are happy for Manning to be named in reporting of the case.

The maximum penalty for the offence is two years but a judge has discretion to impose consecutive sentences.

In July 2021 Manning was jailed for three years in relation to the indecent assault of four young boys at the same school who were of a similar age to the victims in this current case. He had pleaded guilty pleaded guilty to nine counts of indecently assaulting his pupils on dates between 1972 and 1973.

Judge Martin Nolan said Manning had “taken advantage of his position as a teacher to abuse all eight injured parties on numerous occasions, at least 100 times collectively, if not more and continued abusing them and made school a terrible place for them.”

Judge Nolan said the victim impact statements that were either read into the record by Detective Garda Tara Power, read by the men themselves in court on Wednesday or handed into the court to be read privately by the judge were “believable and realistic” and indicated that Manning’s behaviour had “a huge impact on their lives”.

“They were entitled to be protected in school and they were not protected. There was no place for these children to go to and nobody within the school supervising him so it continued for a long period of time,” Judge Nolan added.

He acknowledged that Manning pleaded guilty and has given an instruction, through his legal team, that he is remorseful – “and I must accept that”, the judge said.

Judge Nolan further accepted that Manning is “too old and incapacitated” now and as such “is no longer a danger to children”.

“He obviously deserves to go to prison,” but the judge said he needed to consider if Manning should be sent to prison by reason of his age and particular infirmities.

He said he believed it “would be unjust not to imprison him”.

“He had power of these eight individual children and he abused that power in a most outrageous manner.”

“He deserves a prison term even at this point in his life and even taking into his infirmities,” Judge Nolan said before he imposed two consecutive of two years in prison.

“His behaviour was totally outrageous. He had no regard whatsoever for these children and he was only interested in his own perverse behaviour,” Judge Nolan said before he addressed each of the victims who came to court and thanked them for coming.

He also thanked Det Gda Power for her work that led to the prosecution.

Det Gda Power told Gráinne O’Neill BL prosecuting that the eighth victim was actually the first of the men who ed the gardaí in relation to Manning but he had mised his ab’s name.

He told gardaí that Manning would call him to the top of the class and make him read a book. He said Manning would have him stand very close to him and make the other children read their books in front of them – so their heads would be down and they would not be able to see what was happening.

Manning would then molest him. He said he would try and read his book as quickly as possible so he could get back to the safety of the class, adding that if you tried to move away Manning would slap you across the head.

Det Gda Power agreed that Manning was arrested in March 2012 and interviewed in relation to this complainant but he denied the allegations and instead made “self-serving statements”. He said the allegations shocked him.

Ms O’Neill said each of the men were sexually abused in a similar manner and that Manning used his desk to shield his behaviour from the rest of the class.

One of the men told gardaí that he recalled having to pull up his underwear and school tros after Manning molested him before he returned to his own desk in the class.

One of the men said he believed he was abused three times and he was not called up to the desk again because on one occasion when Manning was molesting him the child urinated himself.

Each of the men indicated that many boys were called to Manning’s desk on a daily basis.

Some of the men described Manning as smoking while he molested them, others recalled a stale, dirty smell off Manning and another spoke of how Manning’s whiskers brushed off his own face.

The garda investigation was recommended after two of the men had spoken to the charity One in Four.

Manning was arrested again in May 2023 but denied having molested anyone.

John Moher BL defending said his client instructs him to apologise for his behaviour.

He said he is currently a resident in a nursing home and asked the court to consider that a return to custody at this point in his life would be a greater hardship on him.

He told the court that Manning ed the Christian Brothers when he was 14 years old and left in 1977 to get married. Manning continued to work as a lay teacher after that.

Mr Moher acknowledged the “courageous” victim impact statements of the men before the court but submitted to Judge Nolan that his client’s pleas of guilty spared the men having to give evidence during a trial.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.