LEWISTON – Construction company owner Roland “Jerry” Poirier was a respected businessman in public. But behind the front he was a raging alcoholic who abused those close to him, family members and friends say.

Gerard Galipeau Jr. was so intimidated by Poirier, who was his uncle, that he kept silent for 30 years about the abuse he says he suffered at Poirier’s hands as a child. The abuse didn’t stop, he said, until he pulled a shotgun on his uncle when he was 16.

“He said they’ll never believe you. By the way, if they do believe you, I’ll kill your parents,” recalled Galipeau, who is 39. “And here’s another thing: If they’re dead, you’re living with me.”

Poirier’s son, Scott Poirier, was convicted Friday of manslaughter – and acquitted of the more serious charge of murder – for fatally shooting his father on Nov. 8, 2005. Poirier never denied firing a hunting rifle through a window of his father’s Lewiston home as his father celebrated his 65th birthday with other family members.

Scott Poirier’s lawyer said the son was suffering from an abnormal state of mind because of repeated sexual abuse by his father.

During the trial and after, a number of other family members and friends stepped forward with their own stories of Roland Poirier abusing them.

Maurice “Moe” Poirier, Roland Poirier’s younger brother, said his brother began abusing him when they shared a bedroom when he was 6 and his brother was about 15. To escape the almost-nightly abuse, the younger brother often slipped into his parents’ bed but never told them about what was happening.

The abuse went on for years, Maurice Poirier said, but he didn’t believe a child sexual abuse victim would be taken seriously back then.

“People were not that forward to talk about it,” he said. “At that time, it was hidden in the closet.”

Some of Roland Poirier’s victims confided in each other about being abused. Maurice Poirier said Scott Poirier once told him about his molestation, for example.

But no one went to the police or told Roland Poirier’s wife, Henriette. She said her husband verbally and emotionally abused her, but she was in the dark when it came to allegations that he molested children.

For the most part, family members said they were too afraid, ashamed and worried to bring up the abuse, or were simply trying to put it behind them.

That changed the night Scott Poirier shot his father dead.

The night of the shooting, Galipeau finally told his parents he’d been molested. A few days later, Maurice Poirier, 57, told the family of his abuse.

From there, other victims emerged.

“When that situation happened, everyone was freed,” Galipeau said.

Scott Poirier, 35, is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17. Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.