A SOUTH AFRICAN man who claimed on the 'Mission to
Prey' programme he had been sexually abused by an Irish Christian
Brother has hit out at RTE saying he has been "very badly used".In emails seen by the Irish Independent, Mr Selmon criticises RTE for its handling of the programme, and has now refused to take part in an inquiry into the matter.
Br Dillon, who was originally from Clarecastle in Co Clare, had been a teacher at the Christian Brother College in Pretoria when the alleged abuse took place. He died in South Africa in December 2005.
HEARING
In October of last year, the Congregation of Christian Brothers in South Africa arranged a hearing with the Professional Conduct Committee of the Archdiocese of Johannesburg to investigate the allegation made by Tyrone Selmon.
However, on the day of the hearing, Mr Selmon refused to attend and sent organisers an email, which has been seen by this paper, stating he had been "very badly used".
"The interview I gave the Irish TV programme was never supposed to be a direct accusation but a first hand account of what I experienced," he claimed in the email.
Mr Selmon said while he stood by his claims he had never intended for any cleric to be named. "I have been very badly used and have had to endure countless strangers contacting me from numerous newspapers and TV programmes around the world expecting that they have a right to my life.
"I must make it very clear that I have never been shown the programme, have never seen how it was edited or what was said. I stand by my words, however find it horrid that names were used as it was my understanding that this would not be the case," he added.
When asked for a comment on the matter, a spokesperson for RTE said: "RTE has recently received correspondence on behalf of the family of Br Dillon and will be responding to them in due course. RTE's position on the matter has not changed."
While Mr Selmon is standing by his claims, Br Dillon's family continue to protest his innocence. They have researched the matter extensively since the allegations against their uncle aired in 2011.
They say they now have the testimonies of 17 other men who were in the dorm at the same time as Mr Selmon who state they never saw any such abuse. Marian Dillon, a niece of the missionary priest, vowed to continue the fight to clear his name. She reiterated the family's call to RTE to retract its comments and apologise.
"We had two meetings with RTE last year and we gave them a 96-page document of testimonies from ex-students all supporting Br Gerard Dillon and pointed out that we could find not one person to back up these claims. They say they have people to back up the claims but when we asked them for the evidence they refused saying they had journalist privilege.
LIMBO
"If
Br Gerard was still alive they [RTE] would have to defend this in the
High Court but we can't even get basic information from them. We are
left in limbo because of their unnamed sources," she said.
Ms
Dillon praised the work of TD Michael McNamara and Senators John Whelan
and Michael Mullins who were continuing to liaise with RTE on behalf of
the family.
"What they [RTE] did was one of the worst things you could do to a family. RTE have forgotten it. They have forgotten us and moved on but we can never move on. We are still banging on doors.
"On the family's side, we will not stop. We want the truth. RTE dragged the entire family into this and we are still living with this atrocious untruth. However, the support we have received is unbelievable from all over Ireland and South Africa and we will continue," she said.