From top: Anthony Flynn; Oonagh Smyth and ‘John’
Last night.
On RTÉ One’s Prime Time.
John, not his real name, told reporter Oonagh Smyth (top) that he was raped by the late CEO of Inner City Helping Homeless Anthony Flynn.
John’s identity was protected and his words were spoken by an actor. Before John told his story, Ms Smyth explained that many people across Dublin don’t believe him or the three other people who have claimed they were assaulted by Mr Flynn.
She reported that the situation has led to negative commentary towards the survivors and, in one case, one man had to be moved from their homeless accommodation.
John told the programme that he first approached Mr Flynn when he was facing eviction. At the time he had just lost his job, before the pandemic, and was in significant arrears.
He told Prime Time:
“I was in a bad way when I met Anthony. I was in a bad state after losing my job. I was on antidepressants. I was vulnerable. I wasn’t myself at the time. When I contacted him, I thought he was a saviour. I thought he was a person who was going to help me out, like. I actually sent him a message on Facebook messenger and explained my situation at the time. He told me, ‘I’ll meet ya’.
“So I asked him, like, ‘can I come to your office?’. He said, ‘no, no, no, I’ll send you a message after work’. Yeah, that’s when he sent me a message and told me I should go to his house and that he was going to send me a taxi from my home to his place which he did send me a taxi that night.
“And I went straight to his house. And then he offered me a drink. And then, I just don’t know what happened after the drink. I woke up in the middle of the night as well and he came over and yeah, he did what he did when I was there, still when I was alert, it just happened all night.
“That first night, he sexually molested me.”
Ms Smyth told the programme:
“John says he was held against his will at Anthony’s home over two nights. He says he felt the effect of a drug and was out of it. On the second night, he alleges he and another man were assaulted.”
John continued:
“He just raped me that night again, with the young guy as well who was there and we were locked there again, me and that young guy. He did hit me and I remember he did hit me. In the end I just became submissive and did whatever he wanted me to do.”
Ms Smyth reported that John returned to Mr Flynn’s home two more times – once when he was sexually assaulted again and another time when Mr Flynn took his phone from him.
She added:
“Asked what made him return, John says it was a combination of desperation and fear. Yet the effects of the assaults were profound.”
John said:
“Since then I ended up in a bad situation myself. My mental health, I just had a mental breakdown. I remember I stayed in my house for nearly three months and I never came out. I just stayed in the dark, switched off the lights, pulled down the blinds. It’s something I’m still struggling with you know.”
Ms Smyth reported that John said Mr Flynn told him he knew “numerous” gardai and felt that if he reported what happened, he would not be believed.
But John reported what happened weeks after Mr Flynn’s death by suicide in August.
John said:
“It’s a fear of people knowing it’s me; that was the biggest fear until now. Even when I went to do the statement, that time with the guards, it took me a lot of courage, a lot of courage to go there. I remember when I walked out of Store Street Garda Station, I looked around me, to see if anyone had seen me going in there.”
John has tried to take his life twice. He told the programme:
“I just crashed, I swear to God. Yeah, it’s just the fear. I don’t know what is going to happen, like.”
“My motive [to speaking out now] is kind of hoping to help other victims out there get the courage and also it’s about creating awareness about what happened. The biggest thing for myself is getting the support from it all as well because my mental health is not that great. It crashes on a daily basis, that’s the main thing.”
In regards to negative comments about John and the other three people who have come forward, John said:
“There is no understanding because they knew Anthony in a different way. I don’t blame them because that’s not what they knew. Anthony portrayed himself as a saviour or a fighter for the deprived in this society, I saw the dark side.”
Watch back in full here.
Previously: Dissolution
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