£22,500 payout for Rubane ‘sex abuse’ victim

£22,500 payout for Rubane ‘sex abuse’ victim

7 December 2016

A MAN who was allegedly subjected to sexual abuse at Rubane House in Kircubbin is to receive £22,500 after his legal action was settled in court.

The 66-year-old claimed he suffered a serious psychiatric injury due to his treatment as a boy while staying in the children’s home, which was run by the De La Salle religious order.

The man sued the order, seeking damages for a “serious and persistent” alleged campaign of abuse.

At the High Court in Belfast last week a solicitor representing the man announced that a settlement for the sum of £22,500 had been agreed.

The man, who cannot be identified, is also to receive his legal costs. No admission of liability was made by the defendants.

Rubane House was among the homes examined by the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry set up to investigate decades of child abuse in residential institutions in Northern Ireland.

It was estimated that 200 of Rubane’s 1,050 former residents have made allegations of serious sexual or physical abuse.

One of those was the alleged victim, who stayed there during the 1960s. His lawsuit was based on claims that he was subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse from the age of 11.

Two of the De La Salle brothers associated with the home at that time were named as the alleged perpetrators.