Woman claims abuse she suffered has ruined her life

Woman claims abuse she suffered has ruined her life

21 February 2018

A WOMAN has told a jury that her life was “ruined” by a retired maths teacher she claims indecently assaulted her as a teenager.

The woman wept at Downpatrick Crown Court this week as she recalled being abused by Patrick Carton (75), of Marguerite Close, Newcastle, over a five-year period in the 1990s.

A jury of seven women and five men heard that the woman was tutored in her own home by Carton, a former mathematics teacher, throughout her GCSE and A Level studies. 

The court previously heard that Carton had been hired by the woman’s parents and that the lessons were held in her bedroom at Carton’s request.

Speaking at the opening of the third week of a trial in which Carton denies 29 charges of indecent assaulting six former pupils, defence barrister Mr Mark Barlow told the witness that while the defendant would accept he had smacked her, there would be disagreement around the circumstances of the punishment.

He said Carton claimed he had explained the process of a star system he operated in which she would be smacked for not doing the work.

The woman dried being aware of a star system but recalled being warned, in her first lesson, that she was “going to be hit”.

Ordered to expose her bare bottom to be smacked up to 10 times per lesson, she said there was no average as it depended how well she was managing her work. She alleged that the abuse escalated as she got older and once in sixth form, she claimed there was a “big change” in Carton’s behaviour.

At this stage she said he no longer hit her while standing but instead ordered her to bend over his knee or lie down on the bed to be punished.

“He was there helping me. I don’t know how much teaching he did,” she said. “I would not say he helped me in any way.”

Under cross examination, she rejected an assertion by Mr Barlow that her recollections of sexual abuse were wrong. She said “it went on forever”.

“You are very mistaken,” she said. “It did happen. Patrick Carton knows what he did to me in that room.”

Explaining why she did not tell anyone about what she claimed happened, she said she “wished she had”.

She added: “I had put up with it since I was 15. I thought it was going to be over soon. It has ruined my life.”

She said she finally decide “enough was enough” when Carton arrived at her family home on the morning of her A Level results and she insisted her family send him away.

Another alleged victim also gave evidence this week. The woman outlined similar allegations of abuse relating to her own private lessons with Carton while she was a teenager.

“I was slapped on my bare bottom by Mr Carton when he was tutoring me,” she said. “It was from the first session. Pat Carton had said to me he had spoken to my mum and that he used that as a form of discipline and that is how he wanted the sessions to continue.”

She claimed she was told to remove her underwear before being instructed to kneel or lie on the bed or to bend over Carton’s knee to be smacked.

Tutored by him for two years in the mid-1990s, she alleged the abuse happened “four or five times” during lessons, which she claimed were held in a locked bedroom.

Claiming that she was eventually told to remain exposed for the duration of her lesson to save time dressing 

and undressing, she claims she was repeatedly slapped with a “closed palm, forcefully so it hurt, it stung”.

Breaking down in court, she said it was the first time she had spoken to anyone in details about the allegations.

A total of six former students claim they were indecently assaulted by the 75 year-old retired teacher during private lessons at their homes or at his home.

The trial continues.