A former pupil at one of Northern Ireland’s top grammar schools was left ‘absolutely broken’ after he was forced to strip naked and had his head shaved as part of a ‘hazing’ ritual.
Gabriel McConkey, now 19, also witnessed other boys from Methodist College Belfast perform acts on a sex toy while dressed in women’s underwear during a senior rugby squad trip to Portugal in December 2022.
Fifty Shades star Jamie Dornan, Chris Barrie, Caron Keating and a host of rugby stars were educated at the prestigious school.
Mr McConkey, who was in the lower sixth form at the time, will receive more than £50,000 in damages after the school settled a civil action against the school for negligence and failing to properly supervise the group.
At the High Court on Wednesday, it was announced he will be paid £52,760 plus legal costs.
Mr McConkey’s family and solicitor declared the outcome a vindication in taking the case.
His mother, Sian Mawhinney, said: ‘The child that we sent on a school trip is not the child that returned home to us, either physically or mentally.
‘He looked absolutely broken by what happened and what he witnessed.’
Speaking to BBC News NI, she added that parents ‘expect their children to be looked after and to be supervised [by the school] and obviously something went terribly wrong. He was traumatised by it.’
Mr McConkey, from the Carryduff on the outskirts of Belfast, was aged 17 and in Lower Sixth Form at Methody when selected to travel to a sports resort on the Algarve for warm weather training.
He alleged that older pupils subjected him and some of the other younger members of the squad to a series of so-called hazing incidents.
According to the statement of claim, he was coerced into having his head shaved as part of humiliating rituals.
Mr McConkey was also forced to strip off, run along a stretch of path and jump into a swimming pool in a ‘naked mile’ ritual, it was alleged.
His lawyers contended that a further incident involved being made to witness other pupils perform acts on a sex toy while wearing women’s underwear.
Proceedings were issued against the school’s board of governors for alleged failures to prevent the hazing episodes and to properly supervise pupils on the rugby tour.
The action was listed for a three-day trial, but Mr Justice Fowler was informed that the settlement had been reached on the terms disclosed.
No admission of liability was made as part of the resolution.
