Marist Brothers lose bid to use paedophile’s death as shield against child abuse claims

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Judge finds Australian Catholic order should not benefit from its ‘own inaction’ in not speaking to known abuser before he died

Christopher Knaus

@knauscFri 5 May 2023 12.56 AEST

The Marist Brothers argued that the death of paedophile Brother Francis ‘Romuald’ Cable rendered it unable to fairly defend itself from a civil claim by a survivor. Photograph: Getty Images

A Catholic order has lost its latest attempt to use the death of a known paedophile clergy member to shield itself from allegations of child sexual abuse after a judge found that allowing such a course would “bring the administration of justice into disrepute”.

In recent months, the Guardian has revealed how the Catholic church, in particular its Marist Brothers and Christian Brothers orders, is increasingly using the deaths of clergy members to argue for permanent stays of cases brought by abuse survivors in the civil courts.

The church, which for decades covered up sexual abuse and thwarted justice for victims and survivors, has been emboldened by a win in New South Wales’s highest court last year, which found a perpetrator’s death made a fair trial impossible.

In a more recent case, the Marist Brothers argued that the death of notorious paedophile Brother Francis “Romuald” Cable rendered it unable to fairly defend itself from a civil claim by a survivor known by the pseudonym of Mark Peters, because it can no longer call Cable as a witness.

Audrey Nash
Its gutless clergy abuse survivors and their families outraged by legal stays that thwart cases https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/27/its-gutless-clergy-abuse-survivors-and-their-families-outraged-by-legal-stays-that-thwart-cases

The Marist Brothers made that argument despite the fact that Cable was alive for 22 months after Peters first notified it of his claim. After learning of Peters’s claim in October 2020, it did nothing to seek a response from Cable before he died in September 2022. Cable was 88 years old and behind bars when the Marist Brothers learned of the impending case.

On Friday, the NSW supreme court rejected the church’s attempts to use Cable’s death to justify a permanent stay.

“The defendant should not, in my view, have the benefit of its own inaction,” justice Nicholas Chen found.

“The defendant’s alleged inability to meaningfully deal with the claim is, I find, a product of its own unreasonable failure to attempt to make contact with Cable, and to take steps to secure his evidence.

“In my view, to accept otherwise would, adopting what was said by [former chief justice Thomas Bathurst], ‘itself bring the administration of justice into disrepute’.”

Court documents allege the Marist Brothers have known of abuse complaints against Cable since 1967, but concealed his crimes from police and other authorities for decades and instead shuffled him between its schools, where he continued to abuse children.

The Marist Brothers argued to the court that it didn’t seek a response from Cable to Peters’s allegations while he was alive because he had earlier rebuffed them in 2015 and said he did not want to have any more contact with the order’s leadership team.

But the court rejected that submission for five separate reasons. It found that 2015 was a particularly sensitive time for Cable, given he had just been convicted for child abuse and was awaiting sentence, meaning he may have been more likely to want to talk five years later, if the Marist Brothers had attempted to contact him again.

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The court also found that Cable may have been willing to talk to a lawyer or investigator, rather than a member of Marist’s leadership team.

Cable had also subsequently pleaded guilty to a raft of other child abuse charges in the period after the Marist Brothers approached him in 2015. He knew he would likely be in jail until he died, the court found. That “suggests that Cable, if contacted, may well have agreed to discuss what happened to the plaintiff”.

“At an absolute minimum, I consider that the defendant should have attempted – on an ongoing basis – contact with Cable following the letter notifying the defendant of the plaintiff’s intent to commence proceedings in 2020, and those steps should have been intensified once proceedings had been commenced,” Chen ruled.

Hands holding rosary beads
Australian Catholic Order accused of waiting for paedophile to die and using death to shield it from abuse claims https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/11/australian-catholic-order-accused-of-waiting-for-paedophile-to-die-and-using-death-to-shield-it-from-abuse-claims

“As it happens, nothing was done by the defendant to ascertain whether Cable would speak to them, their lawyers or investigators about the plaintiff’s claim.

“I do not accept that the defendant can simply stand back and do nothing, which is what has occurred here.”

It is unclear whether the Marist Brothers will attempt to appeal the ruling. But the win allows Peters to proceed with his case and either agree to a settlement or take it to trial.


RETRIEVED https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/05/marist-brothers-lose-bid-to-use-paedophiles-death-as-shield-against-child-abuse-claims?CMP=share_btn_link

Paedophile Offender: Brother Darcy O’Sullivan

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Brother Dominic

The Marist Brothers have a lot to answer for when it comes to Darcy O’Sullivan, otherwise known as Brother Dominic.

In the 1970s and 1980s, O’Sullivan taught at the Marist Brothers College in Hamilton, Newcastle, and St Mary’s High School in Casino, on the northeast coast of New South Wales. 

In 1996, O’Sullivan was almost appointed the principal of the Marist Brothers College.

This is all in spite of the numerous child sexual abuse rumours and claims circling O’Sullivan at the time. In this article, we expose O’Sullivan’s horrific crimes and share how he was brought to justice.

Other Marist Brothers knew O’Sullivan was abusing his students

Other Marist Brothers knew what O’Sullivan doing to his students. In fact, it was another Marist Brother who inadvertently turned O’Sullivan into the authorities in January 1997.

Brother Anthony Hunt — otherwise known as Brother Irenaeus — was Brother Superior of the Marist Brothers in Lismore in the mid-1980s. Like O’Sullivan, Brother Anthony was teaching primary and secondary students in the area.

At the time, the police were investigating another Marist Brother in Lismore, Brother Gregory Sutton. Sutton was a serial paedophile and had served 12 years in prison for 67 sex crimes committed against children. This included 23 instances of sexual intercourse, 46 indecent assaults, seven acts of indecency and one gross act of indecency.

Sutton had been extradited to Australia after fleeing to the United States.

In 1997, Brother Anthony came forward to police with a list of Marist Brothers who were working alongside Sutton in Lismore in the 1980s and O’Sullivan was on the list.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, O’Sullivan abused 27 students in Hamilton and Casino

O’Sullivan was in his thirties when he started abusing his students. He worked at the Marist Brothers College in Hamilton from 1971 to 1972 and abused more than a dozen students. 

As he walked around the classroom teaching technical drawing, he would touch the boys and slide his hands up their shorts. He would become aggressive when the boys asked questions.

He would begin to walk quietly around the classroom for most of the period, the time of danger. Brother Dominic had complete physical power over me,” a victim told Judge Kate Traill in the Sydney District Court in 2016.

Brother Dominic presented as very confident and urbane but would quickly descend into a deep and barely suppressed anger.” 

On other occasions, O’Sullivan would grope the genitals and buttocks of boys who were sent to his office for punishment, making them sit on his lap or bend over in front of him.

He would tell the boys they shouldn’t have been sent to his office in the first place and it was their fault they were being abused.

Another victim said the school was like a “smorgasbord” for O’Sullivan.

“He would take you out of the classroom into a storeroom and he’d just go for it. He’d do it on the veranda where anyone could see. He’d push you up against the wall and when he was finished he’d take you back in and take another boy out,” the victim said.

It was like he had open slather. After what we heard at the royal commission, we now know that was true.”

O’Sullivan’s victims were from good Catholic families, so the boys were afraid to tell their parents about the abuse. One victim had the courage to tell his devout Catholic father about multiple instances of abuse and instead of going to the police, his father beat him with a torch.

Another student from the Hamilton school told the principal O’Sullivan had been touching him. The principal told the student O’Sullivan was just being friendly or it was an accident, then told the child to go back to class.

The physical and psychological impact on O’Sullivan’s victims is immeasurable

Many of O’Sullivan’s victims are now living with mental health issues. 

One of his victims is now triggered by paper because O’Sullivan would touch students while they were doing their work in class, so he now hoards and has 20 years of mail tied up in bags.

Another student from Casino burnt his house down in a failed suicide attempt and told the Sydney District Court he’d experienced an intense mental breakdown at 19-years-old due to the abuse he experienced as a child. 

O’Sullivan faced the courts in 2013 and 2016 — he denied any wrongdoing

In July 2013, O’Sullivan faced the Newcastle Local Court on eight charges involving four boys from the Marist Brothers College in Hamilton. News of O’Sullivan’s court case attracted more allegations and in 2014, additional charges were laid against O’Sullivan regarding a victim from Casino.

In March 2016, O’Sullivan pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to a maximum of six years in prison for crimes against 12 students. However, two years later O’Sullivan did a complete backflip in the Sydney District Court. O’Sullivan showed a complete lack of empathy for his victims and denied ever touching them but instead claimed he had a “paternal interest” in them.

I absolutely deny to this court, to her honour, that I have ever indulged in that sort of behaviour in all of my life,” O’Sullivan claimed before Sydney District Court Judge Kate Traill.

O’Sullivan also agreed he signed a statement of facts detailing his criminal acts against the victims but said “in my heart of hearts I don’t believe all of that happened.”

He also claimed to be “stressed and fearful” in prison because another inmate hit him with a loaf of bread. Judge Traill said this incident was “relatively minor” and sentenced him to another eight years in jail for crimes against a further 15 students. 

In February 2019, O’Sullivan, now in his eighties, faced the Newcastle Local Court regarding further allegations from the 1970s, including two counts of indecent assault on a boy and three counts of indecent assault against another boy, both in Hamilton. He will face court again later in 2019.

Royal Commission found the Marist Brothers cared very little about the allegations against O’Sullivan

O’Sullivan was allowed to slip through the cracks in the Marist Brothers school system. 

In 2016, the Royal Commission found the Marist Brothers cared so little about the allegations against O’Sullivan that he was almost made principal of the Marist Brothers College in Hamilton.

Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Bishop Michael Malone received complaints within hours of the appointment and called the Order to cancel it. 

The Commission also heard from multiple Marist Brothers who claimed Malone knew about the allegations and moved O’Sullivan to other parishes to avoid trouble. In a Marist Brothers provincial council meeting, Malone claimed:

Brother Dominic O’Sullivan is unable to go to Hamilton next year because of health reasons. Discussion on the possible replacement for Brother Dominic took place.”

The commission decided Malone was attempting to hide the truth about O’Sullivan to protect the order. Malone claimed he had “no memory” of this, despite it being recorded in the council meeting minutes.

O’Sullivan was allowed to run rampant in New South Wales schools, even though the Marist Brothers knew full well what was going on.

O’Sullivan was allowed to traumatise and ruin the lives of scores of children and he wasn’t punished until he was in his autumn years. This kind of injustice cannot continue.

RETRIEVED https://kelsolawyers.com/au/paedophile-offenders/brother-darcy-osullivan/
Peter Kelso

Offending Institution: St Vincent’s Orphanage, Clontarf 


Sexual abuse was rampant at St Joseph’s Orphanage in Clontarf, WA. The Christian Brothers would leer at the boys while they showered, and in the evenings, the Brothers would choose boys to take to their bedrooms. One of the survivors said this was “pretty much a nightly occurrence, or at least it occurred more often than not”…

Discover the horrific history of St Joseph’s Orphanage.
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RETRIEVED
Kelso Lawyers. (2022). St Vincents Orphanage Clontarf, from https://kelsolawyers.com/au/institutions/st-vincents-orphanage-clontarf/?goal=0_8de5cf57f7-b1db0993e0-26105593
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Catholic Church paid $276m to sex abuse victims in Australia

The Catholic Church paid $276 million to victims of alleged sex abuse committed by priests in Australia over decades, an investigation says.

Critics say the system of payments is unfair and not all victims receive the same opportunities or compensation.

Since 2013, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been holding hearings on alleged Catholic Church sex abuse of children – mostly boys.

“Catholic Church authorities made total payments of [AU]$276.1 million [US$213million] in response to claims of child sexual abuse received between 1 January 1980 and 28 February 2015, including monetary compensation, treatment, legal and other costs,” the statement from the commission said on Thursday.

Catholic Church sex abuse Australia Pope pedophilia

On average, sex abuse victims received AU$91,000 in compensation, it stated.

The Christian Brothers religious community “reported both the highest total payment and the largest number of total payments $48.5 million paid in relation to 763 payments at an average of approximately $64,000 per payment,” the document said.null

The report added that the Jesuits “had the highest average total payment at an average of approximately $257,000 per payment (of those Catholic Church authorities who made at least 10 payments).”

“Even though the church has paid $270 million and it took a long time to get its act together to do that, there’s no doubt the system of paying people and compensating them is best done independently of the church through a national redress scheme,”the Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive, Francis Sullivan, told AAP.

Sullivan said that not all victims have equal opportunities or compensation.

“Some congregations pay far more than others. Some dioceses pay far more than others. It’s still not a fair system,” he added.

It’s a picture of great unfairness and inequity between survivors across Australia depending on where they placed their claim,” Helen Last, CEO of In Good Faith Foundation, which represents 460 abuse victims, told Reuters.

The commission was established in 2013 to investigate instances and allegations of child sexual abuse in Australia. This month’s report says that between January 1980 and February 2015, 93 Catholic Church authorities received claims of child sexual abuse from 4,445 people.

It managed to identify 1,880 alleged perpetrators, who included 597 (32 percent) ‘religious brothers,’572 (30 percent) priests, 543 (29 percent) lay people, and 96 (5 percent) ‘religious sisters.’ At least 90 percent of the alleged perpetrators were male, according to the report.

Sexual abuse scandals have long dogged the Catholic Church. In 2014, the Vatican said 3,420 credible accusations of sexual abuse committed by priests had been referred to it over the past 10 years, and that 824 clerics were defrocked as a result.

In January, Pope Francis called for “zero tolerance”towards sex crimes against children, and condemned it as “a sin that shames” both the perpetrators and those who cover up for their crimes.


RETRIEVED http://hangthebankers.com/catholic-church-paid-sex-abuse-victims-australia/

Joining BBC-GPS-NSW dots

Since 26th Oct 20, there has been a jump in visitors to our RCbbc Blog. Most of these were concerning ‘known CSA predators’, ‘elite’/‘private schools’ and ‘previous charges’/‘current trials’. The inclusion of another ‘Brand™’ of GPS Schools (Catholic) had also been a major trigger to these jumps. While following a similar pattern of how Journalistic-identified programs had unveiled CSA instances, upwards from southern states; RCbbc has ‘back-traced’ these same trails in reverse (BBC-GPS-NSW).

Photographic portion of Sydney Opera House. (bbc cultural article, 2014)

Although identification of these trails were discussed during our early days (2013-15), it is still breathtaking when truths are realised. Unfortunately, those who experienced any of Butch’s (AK Buchanan, BBC, St Paul’s & IGS) classes may remember some of AAGPS Schools being mentioned, in his previous exploits (SHORE, Scots College et al). Much more is awaiting to become evident, so stay tuned.

Current GPS image, denoting IGS (2020)

BBC’s inclusion in the Royal Commission’s eventual National Redress Scheme, is administered via the PMSA (Presbyterian Methodist Schools Association). Each of the other stated Private Schools should be administered by their similar authorities. Relevant details of each of these institutions is contained in the following References, which should provide relevant authorities detail upon request.


Overlapping Institutions 2

Churches and Schools

Some Private Schools in NSW are supported outright by Religious bodies, also sharing traits with many of Brisbane’s CSA experiences (GPS). Coupled with the ‘Teacher-swapping’ habitus of GM Cujes and his involvement in the CARC, there’s been withdrawal of School Seniority from Catholic Schools and Change-of-Names. The ‘Christian Brothers’ (seriously, not satire) had withdrawn their church leadership (ABCNews 2019), appointing laymen to these Headmaster roles. As there had already been suspicious reputations of secrecy and cloister (ABCnews 2019 & BRA 2020). Thankfully the separations into ‘good’ Patients and ‘bad’ Patients extended to occasional medical checks at local hospitals. In keeping with canon law to remain completely anonymous to outside authorities (King 2019). Ironically the Patients who made the majority of the ‘bad’ group, were Catholic Christian Brothers. Seemingly, like persona forced themselves to flock together leading to give a negative impression on nurses who were used to serving a wider public audience.

Brother Lawrence Murphy (right) abused John Lawrence (sitting) while he was at the Castledare Boys’ Home.(Supplied: District Court Of WA). Image retrieved from Google search : Catholic _ icon/image.

Unsurprisingly, George Pell had perjured himself in his Defense of Gerald Ridsdale. As immortalised by the following photo, Pell would later be acquitted by an overruling Australian High Court (2020). Potentially on legal-technicalities, the multiple Judges overruled a previous Guilty Verdict of Pell. Now in the Catholic’s Vatican, Pell may be enjoying his escape from judicial trials yet as any CSA Victim-Survivour knows, their actions will leave their mark until the end.

George Pell (right) with now-disgraced priest Gerald Ridsdale in 1993

Ironically, GM Cujes (although denouncing CARC allegations, 2016) achieved Headmaster of Trinity College. Previously St Patrick’s College, later renamed Trinity Catholic College by the Catholic Church. Changing names (persons, businesses & institutions) is frequently associated with desires to create distance from historic events of the previous namesake. Psychology, Justice and other fields acknowledge these facts. Unsurprisingly, GM Cujes had preferred to be referred to by his middle name whilst Headmaster of BBC (1990-1996). Under Trinity appointment, Graham appears missing as their preference. AK Buchanan (‘Butch’) used similar choices between his hunting-playgrounds (BBC & IGS): (A) Kim at BBC and Anthony K at Ipswich Grammar School.


REFERENCES

George Pell walks free after High Court quashes conviction, citing “significant possibility” he is innocent


The former financial controller of the Vatican and most senior Catholic Church official to be found guilty of child sexual assault, Cardinal George Pell, will be released from prison and have his conviction overturned. He has served more than 400 days in isolation behind bars.

In December 2018, a Melbourne jury unanimously convicted Pell of five charges relating to child sexual abuse dating back to a Sunday service at St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996. 

However, on the 7th of April 2020, the High Court said there was “a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof”. 

The bench also said the jury should have entertained a doubt around Pell’s guilt with respect to each of the individual offences. Because there was reasonable doubt, the High Court quashed all of Pell’s convictions and ordered verdicts of acquittal be entered in its place.

It was not enough that the jurors found the complainant and witnesses to be believable, credible and honest. 

Pell’s legal team, led by Bret Walker SC (Senior Counsel), argued it was “literally impossible” for the complainant to have been abused on the day in question and claimed a “formidable list” of factors and events providing Pell with an alibi.

Pell’s first appeal was shot down on a majority of two to one. This ‘botched decision’ by Victoria’s highest court left Pell in prison for an additional seven months for crimes he never committed.

Walker SC argued on behalf of Pell before a full bench of seven High Court judges in Canberra. Walker SC claimed that just because the complainant was believable, it shouldn’t discount other evidence placing Pell’s conviction in doubt.

The High Court decision does not deny the validity of the complainant, a former choir boy who testified he and a friend were sexually assaulted by Pell. Walker SC and Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd QC, agreed the choirboy was a credible, believable witness.

However, all seven High Court judges, Australia’s finest legal minds, decided in Pell’s favour. 

Pell learned of his success from inside his isolated cell at Barwon Prison, home to some of Australia’s most dangerous criminals. 

Get the justice you deserve with Kelso Lawyers. We want to hear your story. Call (02) 4907 4200 or complete the online form before you accept payment from the National Redress Scheme

Image: Al Jazeera

RETRIEVED https://kelsolawyers.com/au/george-pell-conviction-quashed/

eNews 3 – Revelation, more StKevins +

Adobe’s Document Cloud – https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3Abe8385f0-5935-44b2-a30d-870667c6af34

Each of these 3 marvellous ABC Documentaries reveal more of the Institutional deceptions of Child Sexual Abuse!
Twitter samples – positive + occasional negative feedback, during 3rd Episode.
Timely image of Gerald Ridsdale, accompanied by George Pell – early Court appearances.

Revelation 2/3

Sorry, if this post is shorter than the 1st! Tue nite’s 2nd Revelation hit home a lot harder for me + my weekly Counselling call starts in a few hrs. While I tried to take some notes, of how Catholic patterns were carried on in both school classes + individual attacks-instances. Even while noting these out, my mind feels like it’s returning to a spinning-whirlwind feeling. Predators knew this + took advantage of it.

PAUSE Take a break, from what you’re doing. These moments can be very complex and anyone involved, may be drawn into the trappings. Put your phone, or computer down and clear your mind. You can always return later.

Advice on STRESS-tension

While I was returning, to continue typing (after my break), an advert of the 3/3 Episode of Revelation was playing on TV. Whilst I had been making comments, when I 1st saw it on Tue nite actually watching it directly had a ‘freezing’ effect. Not temperature, but in my movements. I hadn’t felt like that, since after another church incident in 1990. 🧊

ABC’s iView has available online viewings of these Revelation Episodes, which also allow you to watch what you can, pause + replay whenever you’re ready!

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/revelation

Watching Revelation in iview

Revelation 1/3

As of the middle of March2020, our ‘Royal Comm BBC Blog’ has reached 1,000 Subscribers! From something that began to support + share (from a CSA Victim/Survivor’s POV) more of the secrets, (hidden) truths, impacts, strategies + particularly to offer collected HELP, from multiple ‘Old Boys’-families-communities: ‘we’ve now achieved more than a tonne’. As parts of society now accept the facts… In the midst of the ABC’s ‘Revelation’ Documentary, many similarities/reminders/parallels are both answering some unanswered questions and asking many more.

Sarah Ferguson (‪@FergusonNews)

An awaited audience had made breathtaking comments, jaw dropping feedback and startling responses. Those who had endured previous CSA watched on in understanding, proud that more of these (hidden) secrets were becoming shared with our wider public. Through ‘lifting the lid’ on this immoral human nature of both male + female Predators, is not stopping it from occurring, yet shares further the reality of what should + should not be allowed. Our children always deserve to lead their developing lives into adulthood, as unaffected as possible. Child Sexual Abuse is wrong.

Following are some of the responses made, from the 1st Ep:

@abctv: Award-winning reporter @FergusonNews presents #RevelationABC, a ground-breaking three-part documentary series on the criminal priests and brothers of the Catholic Church, their crimes laid bare for the first time in their own words. Starts now.

@fergusonnews And jaw dropping courage from the good guys in this. #RevelationABC part 1/3 tonight 8.30 @ABCTV

@MikeCarlton01 Looking forward to this tonight. I’m told it’s brilliant…jaw dropping

@treacl: Confession was seen as a #GetOutOfJail card … #RevelationABC