December 2001 This Mass-going perv was guilty of horrific abuse.. but served just 16 WEEKS THIS bachelor farmer is a pillar of his local community, taking up the collection at Mass.  But behind the respectable facade of a God-fearing Catholic is a dangerous paedophile who the State allowed to walk free after just 16 weeks behind bars.  John Cullen, 62, from Wicklow, pleaded guilty to a catalogue of sexual assaults on a young man during his trial earlier this year.  His victim, who does not wish to be named, said he has been given a life sentence by the horror attacks on him when he was a boy.  He has been driven to the brink of suicide and has constant nightmares about the rapes which Cullen inflicted on him in outhouses on his sprawling farm.  Gardai believe Cullen has countless other victims, but while he pleaded guilty to attacking his former farm labourer – who wishes to remain anonymous – over a six-year period, the justice system only saw fit to jail the child abuser for three years, suspending the last two-and-a-half years of his sentence.  Now he’s home for Christmas and back living just miles from his victim.  Last night the 28-year-old told how he took more than a decade to build up the courage to give a statement about the abuse he suffered at the hands of Cullen.  And he said he is horrified that Cullen has been freed after just 16 weeks in a jail cell.  “He has given me a life sentence,” he said. “Yet, the State thinks it is right that he should serve just four months behind bars. That is not justice – and I won’t rest until I get justice for what happened to me.  “I just want that man to serve a proper sentence behind bars, not a few weeks.”  Cullen is back living on his farm at Killowen near Arklow in Co Wicklow since his release a few weeks ago.  He attends Mass every Sunday where he hands around collection plates for the church and chats with neighbours afterwards.  The teetotaller, who pleaded guilty to four charges of sexual assault and one of buggery when he appeared in court in Wexford in July, got character references from a priest and a Garda detective gave evidence for him in court.  Yet officers believe he has been abusing children for years at his farm where he lives with two elderly sisters.  One of his suspected victims is the rent boy at the centre of Emmet Stagg’s Phoenix Park controversy.  He made a complaint almost 10 years ago after working for Cullen on the farm but the Director of Public Prosecutions sent back the file saying there was a lack of evidence.  He had given a statement to gardai after attempting suicide in jail in Spike Island.  He went on to become a rent boy and following the Deputy Stagg debacle moved to London where it is believed he is still living.  “It amazes me,” said Cullen’s victim. “Despite the fact that he actually pleaded guilty to abusing me he still manages to hold himself with pride.  “He is in church every week collecting money and chatting with people. They don’t seem to find it offensive that he is a paedophile.  “But I know exactly what he is like – and he is a monster. He is like a total Jekyll and Hyde. His eyes turn almost red when he is overcome with anger and he is capable of doing anything.  “I think people are actually afraid of him.”  The man revealed how he first met Cullen when he offered to take him under his wing at his farm when he was a young teenager.  “I was only 13 at the time and my family had known Cullen for years.  “He started abusing me almost immediately. It wouldn’t have been in the house usually, it would have been out on the farm somewhere – in the outhouses, wherever.  “It started with him touching me and then he raped me. I will never forget it as long as I live. He was so strong and he would just say nothing while he was doing it, just hold you on his knee.  “It was absolutely disgusting and it makes me feel sick even to think about it.”  Like most victims of evil paedophiles, Cullen’s victim felt he had nowhere to turn and could tell no-one about what was happening to me.  “He almost became obsessed with me in some way. He used to follow me if I was going out with a girl and I found him peeping over a wall of a pub at me once.  “He would be almost jealous if I had someone else. On the farm he taught me all about the land and machinery and he paid me well – after an argument.  “He was almost like a father figure and all the while he was abusing me.  “When I was 15 I started lifting weights to build myself up so I could fight him off.  “Although he is not a huge man he is incredibly strong but if I had the chance now I would beat him to a pulp and I am not the sort of person to use physical force to solve anything.”  As the years went on Cullen’s victim became more withdrawn and depressed. He considered joining the priesthood but in the early 1990s had become so down that his mother brought him to Mejigorie where he spoke to a counsellor about the assaults.  “He then told my mother but we didn’t tell the rest of the family for years. I didn’t feel able. Eventually my father, my sister and my brother were told. It destroyed all of us.”  In 1998 he decided to make a complaint about Cullen in a bid to expose him.  “I felt that I owed it to other kids who might have come into contact with Cullen. I was a man at that stage and well able to defend myself but a young fella wouldn’t have been if Cullen decided he wanted to rape him.  “It was a very hard thing to do and I knew that I was going to be putting myself up for a lot of hassle.  “But I wanted to see justice done and I wanted people to know what he was capable of. I couldn’t stand the thought of him getting his hands on another young boy and doing to them what he did to me.  “It took three years to get to court and when he actually admitted to it he was let off with practically no punishment at all.  “What does that say to other paedophiles out there? It says they can get away with it.  “And what does it say to victims like myself who take years to eventually feel able to do anything about their abuser?  “It absolutely sucks. It is not justice – the whole system is a joke.  “Here I am today – a level headed guy and I think quite a strong person – having gone through what I have gone through with the case and all. And I’m seeing that bastard every day driving around the town, going about his business after just 16 weeks in jail.  “I am appealing the leniency of his sentence but I don’t know if it will do any good at all.  “I’d love to see them put him in jail and throw away the key. I know they won’t do that but even if he got a few years it might give some recognition to the fact that he has done very wrong and that he is a paedophile.  “Because at the moment it seems that being that in this country is just fine, not a problem.”OFFENDER’S REGISTER IS ‘NOT READY’IRELAND’S long-awaited Sex Offenders Register may not be ready at all next year, we have learned.  The vital register, which will monitor paedophiles, was due to be ready early in 2002.  However the system for keeping tabs on hundreds of evil sex monsters may not be up and running until this time next year at the earliest.  The news has been met with disgust by the group, Irish Survivors of Child Abuse.  Its chairman John Kelly told Irish Sunday People that this was proof that the Government was dragging its heels on the matter.  “We are aware of this development and we are disgusted by it. It is yet more evidence of how the Government is treating this matter so shabbily.  “How many more children have to be abused before these people in power realise this is a matter of life or death.  “Children are being abused regularly by repeat offenders because they are not being properly monitored.  “It is disgraceful to say that after all this country has been through we still have no way of monitoring these people. It’s just a crying shame,” he slammed.  Mr.Kelly said he was not one bit surprised by our shocking story about the early release of sicko John Cullen today.  He said Cullen was just one of many paedophiles who have been released early from prison because they have fooled the system.  He added the only way to ensure these people did not offend was to keep them in jail until they had proven they were no longer a threat to society once released.  And even when released, he called for a full monitoring and surveillance system on offenders.  “The man who killed Sara Payne did so because he got off so lightly the first time and was not properly monitored once he was released.  “How long will it be before we have a case such as Sara Payne’s on our hands.  “When it does happen those in power who have not acted quickly enough to deter these people will also be held responsible.  “These people must receive treatment for their addiction and cured once and for all. Even after treatment they must receive constant surveillance.  “They are very cunning and shrewd people who know how to fool the system.  “It is simply not coincidence that many reoffend time and time again. They have not been cured when released from jail.  “A full surveillance and monitoring system may cost money but what value can you put on a child’s welfare,” he asked.