Torture monk left us scarred for life. He got seven years
Abuse sentence too short
Craig McDonald Victims of a monk who abused them when they were young boys at a care home have welcomed his second prison term.
Michael Murphy, known as Brother Benedict, was jailed for seven years at the High Court in Edinburgh.
But some of his victims said it should have been longer. And one added: “The charges he has been convicted of don’t even scratch the surface of what he did.”
Murphy, 82, was supposed to look after youngsters at St Joseph’s List D School in Tranent, East Lothian.
He was first exposed in the Sunday Mail in 2001. We revealed abuse the De La Salle brother meted out to those in his care – including wiring them to an electric shock machine and forcing them to eat vomit.
He was jailed for two years in 2003 but it was reduced to just 12 months on appeal. One of Murphy’s victims, Arthur McEwan, of Sauchie, Clackmannanshire, said: “He thought his electric shock machine, which he used on the children, was a big giggle.
“The abuse he carried out was disgusting. He was convicted of beating me, kicking and punching me, dragging me along a corridor and force feeding me my own vomit.”
Arthur’s elder brother Robert, who
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was also abused by Murphy, said: “He is a vicious, vicious brute.”
Actor Rab Affleck, who has helped Murphy’s victims, said: “Seven years in prison is something but it should have been more.”
Laurence Hughes, provincial of the De La Salle order, said: “We condemn, without reservation, any action or behaviour which harms young people. We deeply regret what happened.”