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Tonight, Thursday 24 March at 7.30pm in Tí Chulainn, Mullaghbawn sees the official launch of Bernard O'Connor's book ‘Freeing the Truth’ which documents his torture at the hands of the RUC in the seventies and subsequent ongoing harrassment by the security forces.
Conor Murphy MLA will be on hand to launch the book and there’ll be an opportunity to hear Bernard talk about his experiences. Guest speakers will also address the assembly.
In 1977, a young Enniskillen schoolteacher, Scout leader and father of eight, Bernard O’Connor was arrested and taken to Castlereagh Interrogation Centre where he was brutalised and tortured for four days. Brainwashed, worn down, sleep deprived, and in pain O’Connor knew how very close he was to doing a deal, to confessing to crimes including murder that he had no knowledge of and could not possibly have committed.
He was saved, he believes, by a fish supper.
Three years later, O’Connor made history by becoming the first person to win a civil case for torture against the RUC. The law governing interrogation methods was changed as a result.
But the price was high. O’Connor would be subjected to a lifetime of harassment by the security forces affecting both himself and his family. He would survive a Loyalist murder bid. Always, fighting the insinuations that a man who had never had a charge proffered against him, had somehow eluded justice.
The collateral damage was incalculable. A mental breakdown, a broken marriage would follow before he retrained as a psychotherapist and discovered renewed personal and professional happiness. For twenty years Bernard has been a counsellor and psychosexual therapist with Accord, Dundalk and is now working with Counselling Connections in Seatown Place, Dundalk.
Explaining his counselling vocation O'Connor said "I worked with Accord for 20 years in Dundalk. Over that period I dealt with thousands of people who came to The Accord Centre in the grounds of St Patrick's Church in Rhoden Place. I specialised in Couple relationship Counselling and as I had a diploma in Psychosexual therapy I would have had clients from Dundalk and the surrounding counties of Meath, Monaghan, Cavan, Armagh and Down. I also received a special award from the Chamber of Commerce for a project sponsored by Louth County Enterprise for my work in the Housing estates in Dundalk.
"For the past three years I have moved to Counselling Connections in 27 Seatown Place where I continue to help many couples and individuals who need support and help to survive in these very difficult and trying times."
Today, Bernard O’Connor knows he will never be a free man. The book is his testimony, written in the hope that others will understand; and that such evil injustice can never again be perpetrated on another innocent.
Copies are available for sale at the launch and also available in book shops in Newry, Waterstones, Amazon and Kindle, or from Bernard O’Connor at boconnor3@hotmail.com or phone – 00353850462424 or - 07780900921
