A NEW Quay man campaigning for a public inquiry into child sex abuse by monks on Caldey Island, has welcomed a decision by Dyfed-Powys Police to re-open investigations.
Kevin O’Connell claims he was gang raped as a child and taken to other paedophiles in England by his abusers where further acts where carried out.
Although Mr O’Connell’s 5,000-name petition for a public inquiry was turned down by the Welsh Government's Petitions Committee, the Caldey Island Survivors campaign learnt this week that Mr O’Connell’s interview with BBC Wales last week has prompted Dyfed-Powys Police to re-examine the case.
Mr O'Connell, 59, told the Newyddion S4C programme an inquiry was ‘desperately needed’ to learn lessons of the past and prevent failings in future.
The man he alleges was his chief abuser - Father Thaddeus Kotik, a Cistercian Monk who lived on Caldey Island since 1947 - died in 1992 without facing any criminal charges into claims he had abused children.
In 2017, six women received compensation from the island's Cistercian abbey after claiming to have been abused by Kotik.
Mr O'Connell said he would continue his fight for a full inquiry into abuse at, and connected to, Caldey Island.
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