Fife home sex abuse victim wins £317,000 in damages award

Sheriff says severity of abuse justified sum near top of scale

A victim of sexual abuse at a Fife children’s home run by monks has been awarded more than £300,000 in damages.

The man was raped, beaten and molested at St Ninian’s School, in Falkland, when he boarded there in 1979 and 1980.

One of his attackers, Brother John Farrell, was jailed for five years in 2016.

The other, headmaster Brother Ryan, died in 2013.

The survivor, known as Victim T, said the Congregation of Christian Brothers tried to buy him off with a cheque for £82,000 last year.

A sheriff has now ordered the religious organisation to pay him nearly four times more.

Victim T now suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder and hypervigilance.

He said: “Those monsters robbed me of a childhood, a living and the ability to simply connect with other people.

“I now hope to move on with my life, and hope other victims out there find justice as well.”

At weekends Brother Ryan would get drunk, enter the boy’s bedroom and rape him.

Brother Farrell would also drink and molest him.

St Ninian’s is one of the institutes featured in the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, chaired by Lady Smith.

Brother Farrell was convicted of three indecent assault charges and although Brother Ryan died before he was investigated it was ruled his attacks did occur.

Victim T said he broke down when he heard Sheriff Kenneth McGowan’s award of £317,000, but the case was about more than money.

He said: “Justice needs to be seen to be done for it to have any merit in society so for me it’s not enough to receive compensation; the Christian Brothers need to be held accountable and need to be exposed for the hypocrisy of their public words and private actions.”

Sheriff McGowan said: “The severity of the abuse in this case, and the damage suffered by the pursuer, justify an award near the top of the scale for cases of this nature.”

The action in the Court of Session in Edinburgh was led by specialist abuse lawyer Kim Leslie, a partner at Digby Brown Solicitors.

St Ninian’s School closed in the early 1980s.

“Those monsters robbed me of a childhood, a living and the ability to simply connect with other people. VICTIM T