EXCLUSIVE: As a child, Kevin O'Connell was 'abused' on Caldey Island. Decades later, Kevin is now fighting for justice for the island's victims. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENTLocated three miles off the South Wales coast, the shimmering island of Caldey is in many ways every child's dream holiday destination.
This week, the island announced that former Assistant Police & Crime Commissioner for South Wales, Jan Pickles OBE would lead a 'thorough review' into historic claims of child abuse. Kevin O'Connell was just six when he first stayed on Caldey Island. His experience would change his life forever Many of his victims claim Kotik would lure his victims an altar stone in the island's ruins where he would commit his atrocities.
'A monk came over and said to me he was a friend of my parents, and I recognised him as Father Thaddeus Kotik. Mr O'Connell said: 'There was nowhere to run and hide, I felt trapped and often thought I would try to swim back to Tenby but I would have not survived the crossing. When he was 11, Kevin was sent to the island for a third visit, this time with his younger brother who he watched over in fear that Father Thaddeus would start abusing himHe says he was told if he ever spoke about the monks, God would turn his back on him and the devil would take him.
'My parents were told that I was running away and I fell and hit my head - I believe it was something far more sinister.' Then in 2018, after years of torment, he set up the Caldey Island Survivors Campaign and collected 5,000 signatures on a petition calling for a Public Inquiry. The victim, now in her early forties, said Thaddeus called the children his 'little angels' and plied them with chocolates, sweets and toys.
'He was manipulative, he knew what children liked. We would play and make dens. He would call us his little angels. She said: 'It was only Father Thaddeus who abused me but there were other monks and trainee priests there. We were looked after by a lot of strangers. 'I've been angry all my life that he never got reported to the police and never stood trial. He got away with it.
After leaving the island the girl had a troubled life, drank heavily and was diagnosed with PTSD from her early years on Caldey.
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