Victims feel ‘free’ after death of Terenure priest accused of abuse

An alleged abuser at Dublin’s Terenure College, accused of “passing on” children to paedophile John McClean, has died, leaving his victims “free”.

Fr Adrian Weakliam was recently buried in north Dublin after a small funeral mass attended by several of his victims.

The former provincial of the Carmelite Order in Ireland did not have a typical clerical funeral, which was often attended by bishops and high-ranking clergy.

The funeral Mass was celebrated by Fr. Michael Troy, the current Provincial of the Order in Ireland, at the Carmelite Church in Whitefriars Street, Dublin.

The obituary – which was not accompanied by a photograph – said he died on Sunday, June 9, “peacefully, surrounded by his family and cared for by the nursing staff and community at Gort Muire” in Dublin 16, and that he “will be missed by his fellow Carmelites”.

The obituary did not provide an opportunity to express condolences or convey any messages to the family of the deceased.

Father Weakliam is another perpetrator of physical abuse at Terenure College whose death came to light after his death.

The Irish Daily Mail later revealed that Fr Aidan O’Donovan and Dennis Whitty were alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse at the secondary school in the 1970s and 1980s.

Although Father Weakliam was never accused of sexually abusing any of the children at the private school, he did physically abuse them, often causing the children permanent injuries or leaving them unable to walk.

Although he was never arrested or charged with any offence, Fr Weakliam was the subject of an investigation by police following the imprisonment of serial paedophile teacher John McClean in 2019.

McClean, 79, a former rugby coach at Terenure College, was found guilty of sexually abusing 45 schoolgirls over a 20-year period.

The allegations against McClean related to sexual harassment and sexual assaults that occurred between 1971 and 1993 while he was a teacher at Terenure College, and all the complainants were pupils at the school.

However, Fr Weakliam’s claims that he suffered from advanced dementia prevented officers from continuing their investigation.

The Mail spoke to several of Fr Weakliam’s victims who said they now felt they could return to normal life.

One man who attended Father Weakliam’s funeral said he felt “free” and that “a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.”

“I had to watch them carry his coffin in… Then I walked out the door. That was enough for me.

He’s gone and now I can go to sleep. I still dream he’s at the foot of my bed, ready to kick my ass… But now I know he’s gone and he can’t hurt me anymore.’

The Irish Daily Mail has also obtained a statement given to police by one of Fr Weakliam’s abuse victims.

The statement, provided to us by the victim with our permission to reproduce it, described what would happen to her when she was called to Father Weakliam’s office.

The victim explained how paedophile priests and lay teachers told them to “do what they were asked to do”. When the boys refused to let themselves be abused, they were sent to Father Weakliam’s office and assaulted, six victims told the Mail.

An extract from the victim statement given to gardaí reads: “Previous statements have outlined a small part of what happened between McClean and myself, all of which is true and more. NB He and Father Madden were head rugby coaches at the school, both of whom threw me out of their first teams when I refused to ‘play football off the pitch’.”

‘I finally had enough, I had grown up enough to face everything, as in the documented case of molestation in the classroom by Madden’s father. After witnessing my classmates being insidiously groped by Madden, I decided that this would not happen to me. I had had enough! I walked away from Madden when he came to grope me; I walked away, sat down, ignoring his demands.

‘He leaned over and slobbered all over me, reeking of whiskey, cigarettes, bad breath and stench, and then suddenly squeezed my genitals so hard I almost fainted. When I called him a ‘fucking son of a bitch’ and pushed his hands away from my crotch, he repeatedly bounced my head off the desk.

“A few days later I was called into Fr Weakliam’s office. I had no idea why until he said, ‘I hear you’re not listening to Fr Madden and Mr McClean and not doing what they tell you.’ With that Weakliam closed the door and beat me to a pulp, focusing on my liver, kidneys and internal organs, carefully avoiding any visible signs… It took me a few days to recover.

“With the help of a good therapist, I look forward… I declare that I am no longer a prisoner of my past… I have the chance to step into a shiny new present free of Guilt, Shame, and Regret. Hurt, but proud.”