‘EXTRAORDINARY RAGE’

There is no justice for any of us now, says author John Boyne after teacher who abused him dies before standing trial

“He did get away with it, he didn’t pay for his crimes at all. There is no justice for any of us now and that’s nobody’s fault.”

• Published: 17:37, 28 Oct 2023
• Updated: 17:37, 28 Oct 2023

AUTHOR John Boyne has said there has been “no justice” for him after the teacher who abused him in his youth died before he could stand trial.

While the writer did not mention his name, referring to him by the initial D, he said it was watching his friends stand up about the abuse they suffered at Terenure College that spurred him to take action.

John McClean was sentenced to 11 years for the sexual abuse of 23 young people, and while he didn’t abuse Boyne, he said it was a catalyst.

“I was there on the day of sentencing and I just think it’s really important to pay tribute to those 23 guys.

“Obviously they weren’t the only 23, there would have been others who perhaps didn’t feel they had the emotional resources to stand up and tell their stories.

“And there would have also have been people who have died in the meantime, and I would have say people who have taken their own lives in the meantime.

“So those 23 guys represented all of those people.”

But Boyne said it was not McClean who abused him but the man who did, that left him a different person that he was before.

“I certainly always felt I always had this weight inside me. All sexual abuse is bad and anyone had endures it comes out the other side of it in different ways.”

The man he referred to died earlier this year.

John finally found the strength to go Gardaí after seeing the bravery of victims in the McClean case.

He said he had “an extraordinary amount of rage” against the Church and the school in his twenties.

And now, at 52, he said he wished he and the other victims could have gotten justice.

Speaking on the Brendan O’Connor show on RTE Radio 1, he said: “He did get away with it, he didn’t pay for his crimes at all.

“There is no justice for any of us now and that’s nobody’s fault.”

Talking about his death meaning no date in court, John said: “It was a strange moment because on the one hand there was the relief of not having to go through the court experience.

“There was, on the other hand, though the recognition that I nor the substantial number of men would have our moment to stand up in court and look at him and explain our experiences of what he had done to us.”