A student who has accused a monk of molesting him when he attended a prestigious Catholic school said the worst abuse happened after he turned 16, a court heard.
He claimed Michael James Callaghan would take him to the pub and regularly meet up with him in different locations around the rural college, Teesside Crown Court heard.
The 71-year-old is accused of sexually abusing two pupils while he was a teacher and housemaster at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire.
The first complainant, who cannot be identified due to legal reasons, told a jury that he was going through ‘hell’ at the school as he was being bullied at the time the monk started to show an interest in him.
In a video recorded police interview, the man said the abuse started when he was 15 and continued after he turned 16.
He said: “The thing that really frightened me was that he would have gone all the way and I would have done it – I was so under his control. I was so isolated from my peers and family.”
The police officer asked: “How did you feel when you were doing those sexual things?”
He replied: “Honestly, I was completely numb. It was the price I had to pay for safety and the escape he offered me – to get me away from the bullying.”
When asked whether some of the abuse took place after he turned 16, he said: “He gets no thanks from me for consciously waiting for me to be 16 – that’s revolting.”
Under cross examination from defence barrister, David Lamb KC, the man told jurors that everything that he told the police during two video recorded interviews was true to the best of his knowledge.
Callaghan is charged with 12 counts of indecently assaulting the boy, with four alleged to have happened when he was under 16.
These include making the complainant perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation during roleplay, where Callaghan pretended to have a heart attack on at least four occasions.
The defendant is also accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old boy in 2013 by grabbing his bottom after going to give him a hug.
Callaghan, of Moortown, Leeds, denies the charges and the trial continues.
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