Latest submissions to enquiry
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 1:40 pm
STATEMENT OF TRUTH
27th June 2005
I joined St James at approximately the age of 4 1/2 years old and left at the age of 16. During the time I was in this school, I was under two seperate form tutors Mr Barnard & Mr Salaman and the headmaster during the entire time was Mr Debenham.
Throughout my time in the school I witnessed and was subjected to continuous degrading physical and emotional abuse, from the majority of teachers in the school, although some made an art form of it.
From a very young age I was repeadly told on an almost daily basis (as were other children) that I would never amount to anything, and that I was never going to be any more then a dustman, that I was stupid, an idiot, a fool, and many other various insulting names, and was often made to wear a hat with an 'F' on it for 'fool' and stand in a corner with my nose touching the wall.
This was a school environment where the children at the top of the class were complemented whilst those who did not do so well were never encouraged, or given any attention or helped, so they might improve, instead they were scolded, insulted, put down and, if they spoke without being asked to do so (even if politely) were often severely beaten or cained.
Facilities, such as the opportunity to learn to use a computer (which I was dying to do and would have been really excited about) were denied to all but the 'chosen few' at the top of the class.
because I did not do well in my studies I was often a target for the teachers anger and abuse, and was regularly beaten, bashed and slapped.
Some examples of regular treatment by various teachers follow:
Mr Russell used to love making me stand on a chair at the front of the classroom an if I moved my eyes from straight ahead he would slap me 'full-force' in the side of the head on my ear, more then once blood ran out of my ears after this treatment.
If I hadn't done my maths homework (which was very frequently since it was homework I didn't understand and didn't even know how to do) Mr Saville made me take my trousers and pants down in front of the whole class and thrashed my bottom with a gym plimsole as hard as he could, and seemed to love it when I screamed with pain.
Mr Lacey often came up to children when they were annnoying him, or even singing out of tune in the choir, put his two hands on their shoulders and kneed them full-force in the testicles, in front of the entire school. He also reqularly engaged in beating children on almost any part of their body with rulers, gymshoes, rugby shoes, cricket bats, in fact, pretty much anything that came to hand.
Mr Salaman (my formteacher for many years) was possibly one of the cruelest and most twisted all the teachers in the school although he had plenty of competition. He would hit you as hard as he could for the slightest little infraction of 'his rules', like not sitting still enough during (forced) meditation or not concentrating in class, I had to endure hundreds of beatings from this man over the years. He would make you drop your trousers and your underpants and bend you over his lap to hit you, his favourite tool was a cricket bat, but he also used a gym plimsole, or anything else that came to hand. On a couple of occassions he performed this sadistic ritual upon my bare bottom and tops of my legs with a running shoe with metal spikes on the sole, I bled very badly. He also used to thoroughly enjoy slapping boys heads or on the backs of the tops of legs with his hands or with rulers, stinging them as much as possible and leaving them in immense agony and often marked quite badly.
Mr Barnards punishments mainly consisted of the use of a ruler accross the knuckles of a child who annoyed him.
Then we come to Mr Debenham, Mr Salaman and he were best of friends and had known each other for many years. Mr Debenham would love to cane children for anything and everything, although the law stated that the cane should not be raised above a horizontal level when being used, and that the user should not take a step when caining, Mr Debenham would routinely take a run up (usually three steps) and bring the cane down from above his head to inflict maximum pain on the child before him. I was cained hundreds of times by this man, often for nothing more then not concentrating or allowing my gaze to wander to looking out of a window whilst sitting in class. Mr Debenham's aim was not always great and he would often hit the backs of your legs instead of your bottom. The usual result of caining in this manner would be black and purple whelts where you were hit that often bled for a while. These marks usually lasted for a matter of weeks before they would disappear, and any attempt at sitting down during this time would be extremely painful. On many occassions he demanded that you pull your trousers down in order to recieve this violent beating.
I remember incidences such as when a tramp did a huge watery runny anal excretion down the steps to the basebent area of the school and I was forced to clean it up with no gloves, just a bucket and a cloth. The task was so revolting that I was trying to hold my breath and threw up several times in the process.
I also remember having wet myself on a number of occassions when I was younger out of pure fear of the beatings that I knew I would recieve from various teachers, this then resulted in me having to clean up the mess and being beaten even worse then was already iminent. - often the reason for the oncoming beating would be just because I hadn't remembered my 7 times table.
I also spent a good percentage of my time in this school being bullied by prefects like 'Simon Willis' and 'Buchanon' who would get you to do press-ups then stand on your hands or kick you or likewise incidents that amused them, at your cost. These incidents were overlooked by the teachers, who considered the prefects responsible enough to apply their own brand of discipline.
At the schools 'Army' camps in area's like Snowdonia, there were a shameful tears when students captured by the enemy force said they had been sodomised, however, despite complaints, the teachers chose to ignore this too, and no action was ever taken, though some children undoubtably had experiences forced upon them by older boys that they may never forget.
This was a school where bullies flourished, as did wealthy children, whose parents made donations to the school in one way or another.
Those appointed to the position of 'teacher' often had no formal teaching qualifications and this may have accounted for their being more inclined to intimidate and bash the living daylights out of helpless children rather then make any attempts whatsoever to actually teach them. There were a couple of nice teachers, I remember Mr Barber and Mr Rasmusen (an American gentleman) as kind individauls, unfortunately they were very much in the minority.
The children had no choice in the subjects taught, and rather then having the opportunity to learn things that they might enjoy or that might assist them in life we were taught Sanskrit, Ancient greek, Latin, Vedic scriptures, and Mr Debanham's own beliefs and interpretations of the bible, and if you ever asked a question that didn't agree with his beliefs, you got cained, as I did regularly.
I have long ago tried to put all of this abusive treatment behind me, but will be happy to relive it all one last time on the stand of a court if it means that these individuals are treated to a little backlash from all the years of abuse, misery, fear and degradation that they inflicted on me, and on many other innocent and defenceless children.
If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me,
Lee Rodwell DCH DHPsy (adv) LLB ITEC - 07967 349 105.
27th June 2005
I joined St James at approximately the age of 4 1/2 years old and left at the age of 16. During the time I was in this school, I was under two seperate form tutors Mr Barnard & Mr Salaman and the headmaster during the entire time was Mr Debenham.
Throughout my time in the school I witnessed and was subjected to continuous degrading physical and emotional abuse, from the majority of teachers in the school, although some made an art form of it.
From a very young age I was repeadly told on an almost daily basis (as were other children) that I would never amount to anything, and that I was never going to be any more then a dustman, that I was stupid, an idiot, a fool, and many other various insulting names, and was often made to wear a hat with an 'F' on it for 'fool' and stand in a corner with my nose touching the wall.
This was a school environment where the children at the top of the class were complemented whilst those who did not do so well were never encouraged, or given any attention or helped, so they might improve, instead they were scolded, insulted, put down and, if they spoke without being asked to do so (even if politely) were often severely beaten or cained.
Facilities, such as the opportunity to learn to use a computer (which I was dying to do and would have been really excited about) were denied to all but the 'chosen few' at the top of the class.
because I did not do well in my studies I was often a target for the teachers anger and abuse, and was regularly beaten, bashed and slapped.
Some examples of regular treatment by various teachers follow:
Mr Russell used to love making me stand on a chair at the front of the classroom an if I moved my eyes from straight ahead he would slap me 'full-force' in the side of the head on my ear, more then once blood ran out of my ears after this treatment.
If I hadn't done my maths homework (which was very frequently since it was homework I didn't understand and didn't even know how to do) Mr Saville made me take my trousers and pants down in front of the whole class and thrashed my bottom with a gym plimsole as hard as he could, and seemed to love it when I screamed with pain.
Mr Lacey often came up to children when they were annnoying him, or even singing out of tune in the choir, put his two hands on their shoulders and kneed them full-force in the testicles, in front of the entire school. He also reqularly engaged in beating children on almost any part of their body with rulers, gymshoes, rugby shoes, cricket bats, in fact, pretty much anything that came to hand.
Mr Salaman (my formteacher for many years) was possibly one of the cruelest and most twisted all the teachers in the school although he had plenty of competition. He would hit you as hard as he could for the slightest little infraction of 'his rules', like not sitting still enough during (forced) meditation or not concentrating in class, I had to endure hundreds of beatings from this man over the years. He would make you drop your trousers and your underpants and bend you over his lap to hit you, his favourite tool was a cricket bat, but he also used a gym plimsole, or anything else that came to hand. On a couple of occassions he performed this sadistic ritual upon my bare bottom and tops of my legs with a running shoe with metal spikes on the sole, I bled very badly. He also used to thoroughly enjoy slapping boys heads or on the backs of the tops of legs with his hands or with rulers, stinging them as much as possible and leaving them in immense agony and often marked quite badly.
Mr Barnards punishments mainly consisted of the use of a ruler accross the knuckles of a child who annoyed him.
Then we come to Mr Debenham, Mr Salaman and he were best of friends and had known each other for many years. Mr Debenham would love to cane children for anything and everything, although the law stated that the cane should not be raised above a horizontal level when being used, and that the user should not take a step when caining, Mr Debenham would routinely take a run up (usually three steps) and bring the cane down from above his head to inflict maximum pain on the child before him. I was cained hundreds of times by this man, often for nothing more then not concentrating or allowing my gaze to wander to looking out of a window whilst sitting in class. Mr Debenham's aim was not always great and he would often hit the backs of your legs instead of your bottom. The usual result of caining in this manner would be black and purple whelts where you were hit that often bled for a while. These marks usually lasted for a matter of weeks before they would disappear, and any attempt at sitting down during this time would be extremely painful. On many occassions he demanded that you pull your trousers down in order to recieve this violent beating.
I remember incidences such as when a tramp did a huge watery runny anal excretion down the steps to the basebent area of the school and I was forced to clean it up with no gloves, just a bucket and a cloth. The task was so revolting that I was trying to hold my breath and threw up several times in the process.
I also remember having wet myself on a number of occassions when I was younger out of pure fear of the beatings that I knew I would recieve from various teachers, this then resulted in me having to clean up the mess and being beaten even worse then was already iminent. - often the reason for the oncoming beating would be just because I hadn't remembered my 7 times table.
I also spent a good percentage of my time in this school being bullied by prefects like 'Simon Willis' and 'Buchanon' who would get you to do press-ups then stand on your hands or kick you or likewise incidents that amused them, at your cost. These incidents were overlooked by the teachers, who considered the prefects responsible enough to apply their own brand of discipline.
At the schools 'Army' camps in area's like Snowdonia, there were a shameful tears when students captured by the enemy force said they had been sodomised, however, despite complaints, the teachers chose to ignore this too, and no action was ever taken, though some children undoubtably had experiences forced upon them by older boys that they may never forget.
This was a school where bullies flourished, as did wealthy children, whose parents made donations to the school in one way or another.
Those appointed to the position of 'teacher' often had no formal teaching qualifications and this may have accounted for their being more inclined to intimidate and bash the living daylights out of helpless children rather then make any attempts whatsoever to actually teach them. There were a couple of nice teachers, I remember Mr Barber and Mr Rasmusen (an American gentleman) as kind individauls, unfortunately they were very much in the minority.
The children had no choice in the subjects taught, and rather then having the opportunity to learn things that they might enjoy or that might assist them in life we were taught Sanskrit, Ancient greek, Latin, Vedic scriptures, and Mr Debanham's own beliefs and interpretations of the bible, and if you ever asked a question that didn't agree with his beliefs, you got cained, as I did regularly.
I have long ago tried to put all of this abusive treatment behind me, but will be happy to relive it all one last time on the stand of a court if it means that these individuals are treated to a little backlash from all the years of abuse, misery, fear and degradation that they inflicted on me, and on many other innocent and defenceless children.
If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me,
Lee Rodwell DCH DHPsy (adv) LLB ITEC - 07967 349 105.