Pol Pot
JF-Expert Member
- Dec 5, 2012
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Hawa nao wanalalamika nini.
Complaints about the sexual and physical abuse of children in the care of the Christian Brothers were recorded as early as 1919, but often little or nothing was done, an inquiry has heard in Perth.The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining the treatment of children at four homes run by the brothers in Western Australia.Counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness told the hearing that from 1919 to 1969 there were complaints recorded against 70 brothers across Australia, 18 of whom were repeat offenders.Anthony Shanahan, the former province leader of the Brothers in WA, said he did not become aware of widespread allegations until the 1990s.However, he agreed with Ms Furness, when she said it was clear his predecessors knew about the complaints at the times they were made.In the 1940s, Brothers who were the subject of complaints were sometimes moved to day schools, where they were considered to pose less of a risk, given a warning or allowed to "self-reflect" on what happened."It seems ... that as we move from the 1940s to the 1950s, that increasingly, the response to a complaint was to tell the Brother about the complaint and if the Brother denied it, nothing more was done?" she asked."Yes, there was a pattern of that," Brother Shanahan said.In one example presented at the commission, Brother Dick was accused of attempted rape in 1964, but a report on the matter said: "His control of boys is good and he appears to have overcome earlier difficulties he experienced in that regard."The "earlier difficulties" referred to excessive punishment he inflicted, Brother Shanahan said.In another example, a complaint of interfering with boys was recorded against Brother Angus at Clontarf for the second time in two years."The Brother denied the charge to both the superior and the provincial council and "there the matter rests", Ms Furness said.
Accused brothers sent to retirement home
The commission was also told of a retirement home in Leura in New South Wales where Brothers accused of abuse were sent in lieu of punishment.At no time did the Brothers consider moving boys' dormitories away from their own rooms or changing the environment in any other way to make the environment safer for the children, the commission heard.Brother Shanahan described the situation at Bindoon, one of the four sites, as being a "tragic state of affairs".A number of victims who were sent to the Bindoon college from overseas with the promise of a good education were instead subject to hard labour, physical violence and sexual abuse.The commission was told a report from 1947 concluded that: "Bindoon was never fitted out as a school and was never intended to take boys who should really be under a woman's care."It was "a pretty spartan, bare, masculine sort of a place," the report said.Brother Shanahan testified that part of the problem was that the school's buildings were not finished when students arrived, which meant education became "token and incidental unfortunately"."One of the many factors, I think, that contributed to what ended up being a tragic state of affairs in the late 1940s, early 1950s at Bindoon was that the place was still being built, and many child migrants and others were coming in," he said."So the place was overcrowded and still hadn't been properly completed in regard to its facilities."Brother Shanahan said the order "got it wrong" in terms of the amount of compensation it offered to victims.The commission heard a class action launched on behalf of victims in the 1990s resulted in an out-of-court settlement of $3.5 million, although some victims received as little as $2,000.Brother Shanahan said the Brothers' approach to the litigation was too defensive and the amount settled on was inappropriate.He said he had a number of regrets about the litigation, saying: "We didn't move sooner to try to get a settlement, and ... that when a settlement did come, we were sort of looking at our own interests more than the gravity of the offences against the men who were the litigants."
Order 'has no future' until it deals with damage from abuse
Another senior Christian Brother called before the commission said the class action hit him like a bombshell and in hindsight he would have preferred to have dealt with it through early mediation.Christian Brothers Oceania deputy province leader Brother-Julian McDonald said the order had no future until it addressed the "devastation" caused by child sexual abuse."I said at the recent Christian Brothers chapter in Nairobi, 'There's no future for the Christian Brothers until we address the devastation that some of our brothers have caused by child sexual abuse - no future unless and until we do that'," he said.The hearings continue.
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