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Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Behind the ‘perfect family': How ‘great fear' stopped Dublin sisters revealing abuse by brothers
To the outside world, they must have looked like 'the perfect family', says Paula Fay, who grew up as Paula Brennan in Rathfarnham , south Dublin. 'We would have been regarded as fairly affluent; we went to Mass every Sunday as a family, all dressed to the nines,' she recalls. 'My mother would say to us: 'Anything that goes on in this house is to stay within the four walls of this house' and 'woe betide anyone who tells'.' Behind closed doors, the Brennans' family life was very far from perfect. READ MORE When then 12-year-old Catherine Brennan, now Catherine Wrightstone, disclosed in 1984 she was being sexually abused by her older brother Richard, her parents reacted with disbelief. Her mother called her 'a liar' and 'a dirty b***h' who was 'ruining' her brother's reputation, Catherine says. Richard Brennan who was sentenced to eight and a half years at the Criminal Courts of Justice last Monday for the rape of his sisters. Photograph: Collins Courts Her older sisters, Paula and Yvonne – now Yvonne Crist – then in their 20s, immediately believed her. They too were sexually abused by Richard and by their oldest sibling, Bernard, but they did not disclose that abuse until years later because of what Fay calls a 'massive fear'. 'We knew our mother would not believe us, she doted on Richard, especially when he wanted to be a priest,' Yvonne says. 'We went to Mass, the fear of God was always put in us.' It was a typically big Irish family of the time, with seven children and 17 years between the oldest and youngest children: Bernard, who was born in 1957; Yvonne (born 1959), Richard (1961), Paula (1964), Eamonn (1965), Catherine (1971) and Sinéad (1974). Last month Bernard Brennan, now 67, was jailed for 4½ years years after admitting 11 counts of indecent assault of Paula and Yvonne between 1972 and 1975 when all three were minors. His abuse began when he was 13, Yvonne was 12 and Paula was six or seven. [ Three sisters sexually abused by brother 'deeply disappointed' over 'leniency' of eight-year prison term Opens in new window ] On Monday, Richard Brennan, aged 64, was jailed for 8½ years for 24 offences against his sisters Paula, Catherine and Yvonne in the 1970s and 1980s when he was aged between 16 and 24. His abuse of Catherine began on her ninth birthday and continued, escalating to rape, until she was about 13. Catherine Wrightstone - née Brennan - aged nine, the year her older brother Richard started abusing her. His offences against Paula included rape and indecent assault, and occurred when she was between 14 or 15 and 17 years old. He admitted one count of indecent assault on Yvonne when he was 18 and she was 20. The abuse occurred against a difficult family background. Their father Richard Joseph Brennan, built up a successful public hygiene disposal business, but was an alcoholic and sometimes violent to his wife and children. His wife Máire Brennan struggled with serious mental illness and could be both verbally and physically abusive to her children. She spent long periods in mental health units, leading to some of the children being in care for a time. In the wake of the sentences of their two brothers, the three Brennan sisters – Yvonne, Paula and Catherine – talked to The Irish Times about life within the Dublin family home, how the abuse occurred and how the atmosphere in the home offered no protection for the sisters from their abusive brothers. 'It was an atmosphere of great fear, massive fear, across all of us,' Paula says. 'It was always about appeasing them [parents], keeping the peace, as if we were the adults.' Sisters Paula Fay and Catherine Wrightstone, whose brother Richard Brennan (64), previously of Rathfarnham in south Dublin, but who had been living in the United States, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 24 counts against his three sisters. Photograph: Collins Courts The girls were expected to do a lot of housework and Paula looked after her younger sisters, leading to her poor school attendance record. The Brennan family lived fairly comfortably. Encouraged by their parents, several of the children were accomplished singers and Yvonne went on to sing professionally in Ireland and the US. Paula was 'very frightened' of Bernard whom she regarded as an adult. 'He was given so much leeway around being an authoritarian in the house. He would twist a damp tea towel like a piece of rope and whack you if you didn't do what you were told,' she says. She was about six or seven when Bernard, aged about 13 or 14, began sexually abusing her. 'The biggest impact for me was on my education, I was afraid to speak; it became that I could not voice anything,' Paula says. The abuse often happened late at night when Bernard got into her bed or lifted her out of it and abused her in the room he shared with his younger brothers. His abuse of Yvonne began when she was 12 and followed a similar pattern. She believes she was 'groomed', including exposure to a pornographic video, and described Richard watching 'like a voyeur' while Bernard was abusing her. The female members of the Brennan family, back row left to right: Máire (mother), Yvonne and Paula. Front row left to right: Catherine and Sinéad Paula was 'overjoyed' when Bernard married young and left the family home but Richard's 'relentless' abuse of her continued until she was about 17. Catherine decided to tell her best friend Michelle Goggins about the abuse at the hands of Richard after a sex education class in 1984. Goggins encouraged her to report it, saying adults would stop it, and accompanied her to the home of a nurse linked with her school. That evening, the head nun at her school rang her father to inform him of her disclosure and Catherine recalled her parents 'screaming and roaring'. The next day, her mother 'called me every name'. 'She told me I was lying, these things happen in families,' says Catherine. Her parents took no action but family therapy meetings, facilitated by St John of God's, were organised later in 1984 following a referral by Dublin's Meath hospital when it could not diagnose a source of Catherine's lower limb disorder. The meeting notes recorded how her father dismissed Richard's abuse of her as 'just sexual curiosity'. [ Brothers' abuse of sisters was hidden in Dublin family for years Opens in new window ] Their mother ultimately walked out of a meeting, hauling Catherine with her; the rest of the family followed. Her parents discontinued the meetings. The Brennan girls with their parents: Richard (father), Catherine, Máire (mother), Sinéad, Yvonne and Paula Her younger sister Catherine was treated very badly at home afterwards, Paula says. 'I think I took the attitude: 'Oh my God, I don't want to be treated like that.' I really wish I had the courage she had to speak out, but I did not,' says Paula. Yvonne felt 'really sad for Catherine' and said she has a sense of guilt about not speaking up herself but feared 'we would be beaten to within an inch of our lives'. There were some grounds for that. When a 'kind' teacher previously asked her how she got lash marks on her back, arms and legs, she 'stayed very quiet' and did not reveal her mother lashed her with a stick. The teacher gave her a hug but the school took no action. Catherine, now a licensed clinical social worker, said their father had a history of 'overreacting to situations' and she has vivid memories of him inflicting two 'horrendous' beatings on her with his fists, the first when she was just six years of age. 'There was such fear of stepping out of line,' says Catherine. Paula told Catherine in the 1990s she too was abused by Richard but was unable to tell her parents. Yvonne told her sisters of being abused about 2012, when Catherine wrote to the organisers of a youth group in Georgia for whom Richard was working, expressing safeguarding concerns. All three sisters reported their brothers' abuse to the Garda in 2019. Richard, having been ordained a priest in 1989, had moved to the US but left the priesthood in 1992 after meeting his wife Bridget. Richard Brennan on the altar at the Pro Cathedral in Dublin when he was a priest. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Other family members also emigrated to the US, including the parents. The children's father, who had stopped drinking after receiving treatment in Ireland, ran a successful pawnbroking business there. After their parents learned in 2012 that Richard's abuse extended beyond her, her father 'cried on the phone to me, apologising profusely for his inaction' over her 1984 disclosure, Catherine says. As a result, she felt able to care for him up to his death just a year later. Her mother's response was different. After Richard resigned his role with the youth group in Georgia and moved to Montana, claiming Catherine was 'yet again' trying to destroy his life, her mother did not speak to her for months, she says. Later, while her mother would not discuss not believing her in 1984, she was 'gentler and kinder' and 'behaved in a way that suggested she was sorry'. Both parents were wonderful grandparents, she added. It was a 'hard pill to swallow' when, two days before her death in 2014, her mother called Richard and told him: 'Your sisters forgive you.' The Brennan children: Richard, Paula, Yvonne, Bernard and Eamonn. Sisters Paula Fay, Yvonne Crist and Catherine Wrightstone Catherine avoided her brother when he came to the house because their mother wanted to see him before she died. Paula felt able to forgive her father before he died but said she struggles with repressed feelings of anger towards her mother over her reaction to the disclosures of abuse. 'It was about reputation; it was never about us,' she says. A year after their mother's death, the sisters' beloved younger brother Eamonn died by suicide and their sister Sinéad, who suffered health issues over many years, died in 2021. All three are unhappy with the eight-year sentence imposed on Richard and want the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to bring an 'undue leniency' appeal. 'The sentence is an insult – it sends the wrong message to survivors and especially to offenders,' says Catherine. 'It amounts to saying it doesn't matter how many times, or how many people, you rape. It's not good enough. Women's lives matter.'
The Sun
5 days ago
- The Sun
Three brave Dublin sisters waive anonymity to name ex-priest brother caged for rape after ‘sickening abuse'
A MAN who told his sisters they would be doing him a favour to have sex with him as he was going to become a priest and had sexual urges has been jailed for eight years. Richard Brennan's sisters, Catherine Wrightstone, Yvonne Crist and Paula Faye, waived their anonymity so he could be named. 4 4 4 Brennan, 64, previously of Rathfarnham, now living in the United States, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 24 counts against his three sisters, including 18 of indecent assault and six charges of rape. He entered the guilty pleas after each of the three women had given evidence before a jury and before the final woman was about to be cross-examined. He pleaded guilty to four sample charges of indecent assault and four rape charges against Paula Faye on dates between January 1978 and December 1981 when she was aged between 13 and 17 years old. Brennan also pleaded guilty to 13 sample incidences of indecent assault and two charges of rape against a second sister, Catherine Wrightstone, on dates between June 1980 and December 1984 while she was aged between nine and 14 years old. He finally pleaded guilty to indecent against the oldest of the sisters, Yvonne Crist, when she was about 20 years old on dates between June 1979 and June 1980. Brennan was between 17 and 24 years old at time of the offending. Brennan has no previous convictions. He was ordained as a priest in 1989 and moved to the US, but later married and had a family. He returned from the US for questioning and the trial. Earlier this month, another brother Bernard Brennan, 67, formerly of Rathfarnham, Dublin, but most recently residing in the United States, was jailed for four and half years after he admitted to sexual abuse of both Yvonne Crist and Paula Faye. Bernard Brennan pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault in various locations within the State between 1972 and 1975. He has no previous convictions. Sentencing Richard Brennan today, Mr Justice David Keane said it was heartening to hear the three women in victim impact statement describe themselves as survivors. BRAVE SISTERS The judge said the sisters had made the 'truly courageous' decision to report their brother's crimes to the gardai. Mr Justice Keane said he had the most 'immense admiration' for the determination shown by the three women in bringing the case before the courts and hoped that they would get something from their brother's 'belated acceptances of guilt'. He wished them well for the future. Mr Justice Keane said the aggravating features of the case included the particularly young ages of both Ms Faye and Ms Wrightstone at the time of the abuse against them and the fact that the abuse occurred in a place where the sisters should have felt secure. Instead, Brennan created an environment of fear and confusion, he said. The judge also took into account the fact that there was a pattern of frequent assaults against the younger two sisters over a lengthy period of time and that Brennan was a seminarian at the time, with particular familial responsibilities to his younger sisters. EACH CAUSED HARM Finally, Mr Justice Keane said there were three separate victims in the case who each have been psychologically damaged and that Brennan caused each of them significant harm. He set headline sentences of 12 years for the rapes committed against Ms Wrightstone, and headline sentences of 10 years for the rapes committed against Ms Faye. He set headline sentences of six years against the indecent assaults against Ms Wrightstone and headline sentences of 21 months and 18 months for the indecent assaults against Ms Faye and Ms Crist. Mr Justice Keane said he must take into consideration mitigation including what he said was a late plea entered on the ninth day of the trial. He acknowledged that Brennan has shown deep remorse and that he has apologised to each of his victim. CO-OPERATED WITH COPS He said Brennan was also entitled to significant credit for his lack of previous convictions and the fact that he co-operated with gardai. Mr Justice Keane said he accepted evidence that Brennan appears to have been present during some incidences of abuse carried out by his brother Bernard Brennan on both Ms Faye and Ms Crist. He said he was also taking into account the character evidence given during the sentence hearing by Brennan's wife and testimonials handed into court by a number of other people. Mr Justice Keane imposed a term of nine years for the rape offences carried out by Brennan against Ms Wrightstone. CONCURRENT TERMS He imposed concurrent terms of seven and half years for the rape offences committed against Ms Faye and four and half years for the indecent assaults against Ms Wrightstone. He imposed further concurrent terms of 16 months and 14 months for the indecent assault offences committed against Ms Faye and Ms Crist. A global sentence of nine years was backdated to March 18 last when Brennan first went into custody. Mr Justice Keane noted that a report from the Probation Service indicated that Brennan is willing to engage with offence focused work as deemed suitable by them and said he must 'consider the prospect of rehabilitation' upon his ultimate release from prison. 'SICKENING ABUSE' He suspended the final 12 months of the nine-year term on condition that Brennan engage with the Probation Service for a year upon his release. He did not impose a post release supervision order after acknowledging that Brennan intends to return to the States when he leaves Ireland. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre commended the 'immense courage' shown by survivors. Chief Executive Rachel Morrogh said: 'Yvonne Crist, Paula Fay, and Catherine Wrightstone suffered sickening abuse at the hands of their siblings." 'LIFELONG IMPACT' She added: 'All these women were denied their most basic human rights by the very people they should have been able to trust. 'Sexual abuse has a devastating, lifelong impact for child victims. The fear and terror it creates is compounded when it happens in the family home, a place where every child should feel safe and should be safe. 'It can be particularly challenging to report offending within a family, but it is a devastatingly common occurrence. 'Dublin Rape Crisis Centre stands in solidarity with every survivor of sexual violence. 'We encourage anyone affected by this issue in any way to call the National Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800 77 88 88 for completely confidential and free information and support, available 24 hours a day.' 4
BreakingNews.ie
6 days ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Former priest who sexually abused his three sisters jailed for eight years
A man who told his sisters they would be doing him a favour to have sex with him as he was going to become a priest and had sexual urges has been jailed for eight years. Richard Brennan (64) previously of Rathfarnham, now living in the United States, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 24 counts against his three sisters, including 18 of indecent assault and six charges of rape. Advertisement He entered the guilty pleas after each of the three women had given evidence before a jury and before the final woman was about to be cross-examined. He pleaded guilty to four sample charges of indecent assault and four rape charges against Paula Faye on dates between January 1978 and December 1981 when she was aged between 13 and 17 years old. Brennan also pleaded guilty to 13 sample incidences of indecent assault and two charges of rape against a second sister, Catherine Wrightstone, on dates between June 1980 and December 1984 while she was aged between nine and 14 years old. He finally pleaded guilty to indecent assault against the oldest of the sisters, Yvonne Crist, when she was about 20 years old on dates between June 1979 and June 1980. Advertisement Brennan was between 17 and 24 years old at time of the offending. Brennan has no previous convictions. He was ordained as a priest in 1989 and moved to the US, but later married and had a family. He returned from the US for questioning and the trial. Earlier this month, another brother Bernard Brennan, (67), formerly of Rathfarnham, Dublin, but most recently residing in the United States, was jailed for four and half years after he admitted to sexual abuse of both Yvonne Crist and Paula Faye. Bernard Brennan pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault in various locations within the State between 1972 and 1975. He has no previous convictions. Advertisement Sentencing Richard Brennan on Monday, Mr Justice David Keane said it was heartening to hear the three women in victim impact statement describe themselves as survivors. The judge said the sisters had made the 'truly courageous' decision to report their brother's crimes to the gardaí. Mr Justice Keane said he had the most 'immense admiration' for the determination shown by the three women in bringing the case before the courts and hoped that they would get something from their brother's 'belated acceptances of guilt'. He wished them well for the future. Mr Justice Keane said the aggravating features of the case included the particularly young ages of both Ms Faye and Ms Wrightstone at the time of the abuse against them and the fact that the abuse occurred in a place where the sisters should have felt secure. Instead, Brennan created an environment of fear and confusion, he said. Advertisement The judge also took into account the fact that there was a pattern of frequent assaults against the younger two sisters over a lengthy period of time and that Brennan was a seminarian at the time, with particular familial responsibilities to his younger sisters. Finally, Mr Justice Keane said there were three separate victims in the case who each have been psychologically damaged and that Brennan caused each of them significant harm. He set headline sentences of 12 years for the rapes committed against Ms Wrightstone, and headline sentences of 10 years for the rapes committed against Ms Faye. He set headline sentences of six years against the indecent assaults against Ms Wrightstone and headline sentences of 21 months and 18 months for the indecent assaults against Ms Faye and Ms Crist. Mr Justice Keane said he must take into consideration mitigation including what he said was a late plea entered on the ninth day of the trial. He acknowledged that Brennan has shown deep remorse and that he has apologised to each of his victim. Advertisement He said Brennan was also entitled to significant credit for his lack of previous convictions and the fact that he co-operated with gardaí. Mr Justice Keane said he accepted evidence that Brennan appears to have been present during some incidences of abuse carried out by his brother Bernard Brennan on both Ms Faye and Ms Crist. He said he was also taking into account the character evidence given during the sentence hearing by Brennan's wife and testimonials handed into court by a number of other people. Mr Justice Keane imposed a term of nine years for the rape offences carried out by Brennan against Ms Wrightstone. He imposed concurrent terms of seven and half years for the rape offences committed against Ms Faye and four and half years for the indecent assaults against Ms Wrightstone. He imposed further concurrent terms of 16 months and 14 months for the indecent assault offences committed against Ms Faye and Ms Crist. A global sentence of nine years was backdated to March 18 last when Brennan first went into custody. Ireland Man (70s) who abused neighbouring children 40 year... Read More Mr Justice Keane noted that a report from the Probation Service indicated that Brennan is willing to engage with offence focused work as deemed suitable by them and said he must 'consider the prospect of rehabilitation' upon his ultimate release from prison. He suspended the final 12 months of the nine-year term on condition that Brennan engage with the Probation Service for a year upon his release. He did not impose a post release supervision order after acknowledging that Brennan intends to return to the States when he leaves Ireland. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at or visit Rape Crisis Help.
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Irish Times
Man jailed for eight years for sexually abusing three of his sisters
A man has been jailed for a total of eight years after admitting to indecently assault of three of his sisters and raping two of them when they were minors. Paula Fay was aged 14 or 15 when she woke to find her brother Richard in her bed lifting her nightdress. She said he told her he needed 'a favour' because he would be unable to have sex when he became a priest. Her sister Catherine Wrightstone said her brother's sexual abuse of her began on her ninth birthday. Sentencing Brennan in the Central Criminal Court on Monday, Mr Justice David Keane said an aggravating factor was that the defendant committed some of the offences when he was a seminarian at Clonliffe College studying for the priesthood. READ MORE He sentenced Brennan, with an address in Montana in the US, but formerly of Rathfarnham, Dublin, to a global total term of nine years imprisonment, with the final year suspended, for the offences against his sisters Yvonne Crist, Ms Fay and Ms Wrightstone. The global sentence sought to take account of all of Brennan's 24 offences, the judge said. He said aggravating factors included that, while some of his offending occurred when he was aged 16 and a minor, it continued until he was 24. All of the offences occurred at the siblings family home in Rathfarnham in the late 1970s and 1980s. Another aggravating factor was the breach of trust as a seminarian and a brother with particular responsibilities to his sisters whose trust he 'fundamentally betrayed'. The offences occurred in the family home which should have been a place of safety and security but was instead made one of fear, the judge said. He expressed 'immense admiration' for the three women for the determination they had shown for engaging and persevering with the legal process. Mr Justice Keane said he hoped they would get further strength from their brother's late admission of guilt. The three women gave victim impact statements in which they stressed the physical, emotional and psychological impacts of the abuse they suffered. They said they had found the trial retraumatising. In mitigation, the judge took into account Brennan's 'very late' guilty plea, apology and expression of remorse to his victims, that he had no previous convictions and had co-operated with gardaí. He also took into account he is now aged 64 and answering for offences that occurred when he was aged 16-24. The judge said he had been given 20 character references from Brennan's friends and colleagues in the US, as well as testimonials from his wife Bridget and their adult children, and had considered them insofar as he could. Brennan was ordained in 1989 but left the priesthood after meeting his wife in the US in 1992 and they married in 1993, the court heard. Ms Fay and Ms Wrightstone, accompanied by family members and supporters, were in court for the sentence decision on Monday. Ms Crist watched the proceedings via video link from her home in the US. Brennan, who has five adult children, has been in custody since last March. His wife and a family friend travelled from the US for his sentencing. After his sisters gave evidence, and just before the last woman was cross-examined in his trial last March, Brennan indicated he was entering a guilty plea and ultimately pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including six offences of rape. He pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault of Ms Fay between early 1978 and late 1979 and four offences of rape on dates between 1979 and June 1981. He was aged between 16 and 20 and she was aged between 13 and 17 at the time. He admitted 13 counts of indecent assault of Ms Wrightstone on dates between June 1980 and late 1985 and two counts of rape in 1984 and 1985. He was aged between 19 and 24 and she was aged between nine and 14 at the time. In relation to Ms Crist, he admitted one count of indecent assault against her in the family home between June 1979 and June 1980 when he was aged 18 or 19 and she was aged 20. The judge noted Ms Fay was aged 14 or 15 when first assaulted by her brother, when she woke in her bed to find him pulling up her nightdress. He asked her for sex, telling her she would be doing him 'a favour' because he was studying for the priesthood and would be unable to have sex with any girl. She wanted him out of her room and felt she had no option but to give in. The first incident of rape occurred when she was 16. Ms Wrightstone said she was first abused by Brennan when she was nine and the abuse continued into her teens, progressing to rape when she was aged 12 or 13. During the first incident of abuse, he told her he had something to show her, took her to her bedroom and performed oral sex on her which she found disgusting. She said she cried and vomited afterwards in the bathroom. In other incidents, he examined her maturing body as if he was a doctor and told her this was what he was supposed to do as a big brother. The abuse was so frequent she could not say how often it took place, she said. Although she disclosed the abuse in 1984 to a specialist educator linked with her school, her parents failed to act, the court heard. The family were referred later that year for family therapy but her parents withdrew from that and Brennan's abuse continued. Ms Crist was aged 20 and sleeping in the family home after singing in Jury's hotel when she woke to find her brother naked on top of her and seeking sex. She screamed and told him to leave, he initially refused but left after she grabbed the phone and said she was calling the Garda. In submissions for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Fiona Murphy SC said the offences fell into the more serious bracket, involving more than one victim and breach of trust. In submissions for Brennan, John Byrne SC said he is the third oldest of seven children. They had a 'somewhat chaotic lifestyle' and fraught parental relationships, which involved the children seeing frequent violent outbursts fuelled by their mother's mental illness and their father's alcoholism. Brennan and two of his sisters spent a period in institutional care. The court had heard the parents, who died in 2013 and 2014, did not deal with Ms Wrightstone's disclosures in 1984 of her abuse by her brother, counsel said. She was not believed and it was regrettable the matter was 'swept under the carpet' then as had there been a full investigation, that might have prevented the abuse progressing further and getting worse. Mr Byrne said his client had been naturalised into deviant sexual behaviour from an early age by his older brother Bernard and this case could not be divorced from his brother's earlier case. Counsel said, while it was not part of this case, Richard Brennan, claimed he had been sexually abused by Bernard and invited by his brother into a situation where he was sexually abusing his sisters. Last month, Bernard Brennan (67) was jailed for a total of 4½ years after pleading guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault against Ms Fay and Ms Crist on dates between 1972 and 1975. Ms Fay was aged seven and he was aged 18 at the time of the first offence against her. Ms Crist was aged 13 and Brennan was aged 15 when he started abusing her.
