Rodney Edwards: The past is catching up on sex abusers in Fermanagh

This is a significant moment in Fermanagh as we delve deeper and deeper into a murky past that saw innocent children raped by evil men again and again and again.
These serious allegations would not have emerged had it not been for the bravery of victims who have trusted The Impartial Reporter to tell their stories in recent weeks.
The first story centred around allegations of a paedophile ring in Enniskillen from a victim who came forward and has supplied the names of his alleged abusers to us. He said he was sexually assaulted by a number of businessmen and professional people. His case was later dropped.
His story led to a second victim coming forward to say that an Enniskillen businessman raped him several times at his home, in his van and at the back of the business he ran in the town. This abuse lasted several years. Again, this victim also gave his alleged abuser’s name to this newspaper. He is still alive. And again this man was never prosecuted as the case was dropped. 
This led to a third victim coming forward to allege that she was sexually abused by her own brother when she was 11 years old in the family home in Lisnaskea, abuse that would last several years. She discovered a few years ago that her son was also abused by the same man when he was eight years old. Both she and her son reported the incidents of abuse to police and both cases were dropped due to “insufficient evidence”.
Now a fourth victim has reached out – because of the courage of the previous three – to claim that he was subjected to years of sex abuse on board his school bus by David Sullivan, a journey that should have always been safe. There are many questions about Sullivan’s grisly end that have never been answered.
These questions were first posed by this newspaper almost 20 years ago and are still valid today: who murdered David Sullivan? Who would have wanted to kill a pathetic, lonely man already dying of Parkinson’s Disease who was a chain smoker, fascinated by Dinky cars and a creature of the night?
We might be getting closer to the truth, however very many questions remain for the Police Service of Northern Ireland and other authorities. 
Why was Sullivan allowed to get away with abusing schoolboys? Why was Sullivan never prosecuted for the litany of abuse he carried out as a bus driver? Why was his murder never solved? What precisely was uncovered during the investigation into his murder? Were claims of a paedophile ring properly investigated? Were the businessmen and professional people - whose names are continuing to be passed to this newspaper - arrested and questioned? If not why not? And when will victims of such wickedness get justice?
Whatever was going on three decades ago, however evil, it is clear that Sullivan and his comrades were at the heart of it.
We will continue to give victims a voice and will continue to signpost them to support services, and police. But the public need reassurances that police will do all they can to investigate Fermanagh’s dark secret.
Last week Superintendent Clive Beatty was asked by my colleague Jessica Campbell if police would consider reviewing all of these cases in a bid to prosecute those abusers who are still alive. He responded: “If we can see similarities in any historic sexual abuse case, that that perpetrator used the exact same tactic on that victim that they did on that victim, all of those can be matched together and not reinvestigated but re-examined to see if there is a realistic prospect of prosecution through the courts.”
PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton has taken a direct interest in our revelations. 
John’s story today may well be the catalyst that will lead police to Sullivan’s other victims and other abusers who thought they had got away with it.