4.10am The Royal Commission has adjourned for the end of the day and will resume at 10am on Tuesday.
2.32pm Marist Brother Alexis Turton is about to give evidence.
Turton joined the Marist Brothers in 1957 when he was 18.
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He was principal of the order’s major Ashgrove school in Queensland, and principal at Hamilton for two years after leaving Ashgrove in 1976.
He held senior positions in the order including superior at Hamilton; vice provincial in 1983 – making him second in charge for a province including northern NSW, Queensland and Canberra – and provincial from 1989 to 1995.
He was made director of professional standards for the Marist Brothers from 2002, and received complaints about abuse, physical and sexual abuse.
Turton has just told the royal commission he worked with Brother Dominic (Darcy O’Sullivan) twice, at Ashgrove from 1965, and Hamilton from 1977.
Turton has said in his statement that he didn’t receive or hear of any complaints about Dominic.
Turton has been shown a recommendation written by him about Dominic for the Board of Teacher Registration in Queensland.
Counsel assisting the royal commission, Stephen Free, has read out a section of Turton’s recommendation, saying “he’s a man of exceptional character and integrity, his personal values provide an excellent model for young people who he might encounter in his role as educator”.
Turton has just been shown a document prepared by himself in 1994, headed by “Special issues re AB29”, which the royal commission knows refers to Brother Dominic.
Turton is just describing what “AB” stands for. The insurance company needed information about anyone who had been reported for abuse. Men were assigned letters.
The report refers to a phone call from the Casino parish priest. Turton’s note says the priest had been approached by a young man with a history of paranoid schizophrenia, who accused the Marist brother of touching him “genitally”.
It noted the young man wanted to be assured there was no likelihood of Dominic causing harm to students.
Turton has just read out the rest of his 1994 note, in which he wrote that he received further advice
from Catholic priest Brian Lucas.
Turton’s note said if the young man was concerned he should make direct approach to the Marist Brothers and present his case, subject to reasonable medical checking of his schizophrenia.
Turton said the priest contacted him because he felt he should pass the information on.
.Turton said he spoke to Dominic.
Turton: “I believe I asked Brother Dominic about it, but I don’t have it in – that’s all I can say, I have it in the notes – there’s nothing in the notes there that say that. I know I did ask him – I presume I asked him about this and he said: ‘There’s nothing to it’.”
Asked what steps he had taken to reassure the young man that no other students would be at risk, Turton said he was waiting for the young man to formally put something to him, and “I accepted the reassurance of Brother Dominic”.
Turton said he spoke to Father Brian Lucas about what to do.
Royal commission chair Justice Peter McClellan is now questioning Turton about the role of Father Brian Lucas.
McClellan: “Why did you speak to Father Lucas?”
Turton: “Father Lucas was the nominated representative in the special issues position of the church through the protocols that were initially begun in 1990.”
McClellan: “The official position was that you were required to tell Father Lucas of any allegations that you had?”
Turton: “That was the recommendation of the church’s protocol, and happened for many, many – that would happen, I would check with him.”
McClellan: “So you reported many cases to him?”
Turton: “Yes, we had quite a number of cases, yes, your Honour.”
McClellan has just asked Turton to write down the names of any Marist Brothers he spoke with over the years who had had allegations made against them.
McClellan: “So you had some people who admitted an offence to you?”
Turton: “Oh, yes.”
McClellan: “Do we have those names? I think we should ask Brother Turton to tell us, but maybe write them down. Can we give the brother pen and paper. Would you write down the names of the people who admitted to you they’d committed an offence?”
McClellan: “You responded by saying that some brothers admitted to you that they’d committed an offence. I would like you to write down the names of those who had admitted to you they’d committed an offence?”
Turton: “You mean….”
McClellan: “Their names, I mean?”
Turton: “I’d have to go back through lists to remind me of that. I was provincial for five years and professional standards for 10.”
McClellan: “Do the best you can now, before we go back through lists, just write down the names of those you can remember.”
The royal commission has been told Turton wrote down two names, and said he would have to go “back through my lists and so on….”
McClellan: “How many do you think there were, from memory?”
Turton: “No, I wouldn’t even guess that. I’d have to look at the list.”
McClellan: “Would it be more than 10?”
Turton: “It’s over a period of 15 years – I would think so, yes.”
McClellan is now asking Turton about his communications with Father Lucas.
McClellan: “When a brother admitted to you that they committed an offence, did you tell Father Lucas that they had admitted to you that they’d committed an offence?”
Turton: “I couldn’t say in every case, because every case depends on the circumstances in which it came up, but usually I would, yes.”
McClellan: “It would be a strange conversation if you didn’t tell Father Lucas that they’d told you they’d committed an offence, wouldn’t it?”
Turton: “Yes.”
Turton has just told the royal commission that because Dominic denied what the young man had said about him, “he (Dominic) remained in the job”.
Turton has told the royal commission he did not make any inquiries of anyone about whether Brother Dominic had been the subject of any earlier complaints.
Turton said again that he was following Father Lucas’s advice which was to await a formal complaint or response from the young man before doing anything.
Turton has just been shown a statement by the young man made to police in 2014 when Brother Dominic was charged.
Turton is now being shown another note made by him about Dominic, made in 1995.
It says AB29 is “known to be over-familiar with male students. This is at the level of inappropriate touching but no indication of any genitality or such”.
“No one has confronted AB29 about the matter although it is fairly common matter for discussion among staff. Apparently, referral has been made to Bev Paterson at the local CEO (Catholic Education Office) for consideration. It is not known whether the matter has been passed on to the director of the CEO or whether any action has been taken by Bev Paterson in particular regarding any formal communication with AB29.”
Turton has just told the royal commission that the note is from a conversation he had with another Marist Brother.
Turton, in his statement, has described “inappropriate touching” – as referred to in the original 1994 complaint about Dominic – as “being too tactile and not maintaining professional boundaries, but that there was no suggestion or complaint mde that he had sexually assaulted any students”.
Free: “The explanation of what it means, are they words that the staff member used to explain what he or she meant by inappropriate touching?”
Turton: “I can’t remember, you know, exactly, but I did clarify the point that it did not come into the sexual touching assault area.”
McClellan: “What did you understand to be inappropriate touching?”
Turton: “I don’t actually know. I didn’t get the detail of it.”
McClellan: “My question is you wrote these words down. What did you understand when you wrote down the words ‘inappropriate touching’, what you were talking about?”
Turton: “It would have been touching the legs in which someone was uncomfortable with, touching the bottom, it could have been that.”
McClellan: “The legs might be ambiguous, but touching the bottom, surely raised in your mind a sexual connotation, did it not?”
Turton: “It raises the question. I’m not sure it gives the answer.”
McClellan: “No, but it is a question that needed an answer, isn’t it. Once you’ve got an allegation of inappropriate touching, didn’t that need an answer?”
Turton: “It was a possibility but at that stage, knowing that it was going to the investigation area of the CEO, I didn’t follow that any further at that stage.”
McClellan: “You have written down ‘no suggestion of complaint made that he had sexually assaulted any students’. What did you understand to be a sexual assault?”
Turton: “Oh, I think there are many. I didn’t have a specific except that a denial was a clear indication to me.”
Turton has just told the royal commission that the call in 1995, relating to a complaint about another Marist Brother, was partly on the basis of the other person being “concerned that the good name of the Brothers was kept intact, that’s all it was”.
Free: “The effect of what they were saying to you is a little more than that, isn’t it, Brother? They were saying it is unfurtonate that this other Brother, AB34, is under investigation because it’s a matter of common knowledge that AB29 (Dominic) engages in inappropriate touching with students.”
Turton: “And that’s what they said, yes.”
Turton said he did not contact the parish priest who contacted him about Dominic in 1994, to tell him there had been another complaint about Dominic in 1995.
The royal commission is just considering an email written by Dominic in April 2013 in response to a royal commission notice to produce.
The email is about a complaint against him by a year 9 male student of “inappropriate behaviour on my part”.
Turton said he had no memory of that complaint. The email notes that Brother Michael Hill was consulted.
Turton said he did not recall speaking to Hill about the 1994 and 1995 complaints raised with him about Dominic.
Turton has just denied any knowledge of a complaint about Dominic in 1996, from a man who said Dominic had “rubbed him indecently, touched his buttocks and back” while he was in the sick bay in 1995.
Turton is now being questioned about Brother Patrick.
Turton was a student of Patrick’s at Marist Brothers Hamilton in the 1950s.
Turton said he did not receive any complaints about Patrick while he was principal of Marist Brothers Hamilton in 1977-78, but agreed he had received a complaint about him in 1991.
Turton has been shown a file note written by him in 1992.
In the note: “Early 1991 – I was contacted by young man about 35 years old. An assertion of sexual abuse (non-specific) when I was 12 or 13 at Eastwood. Patrick Butler was almost certainly the man. Couldn’t remember his surname. Victim was going to therapy and had difficulty in establishing and maintaining a relationship. Sometimes felt dirty.”
The note said the man did not want to take legal or police action, but wanted assurance Butler was not alone with kids or unsupervised. The note says he “didn’t want others to suffer what he suffered”.
Turton’s note said he contacted the principal at the school where Patrick was teaching, who said “they had no problem with Patrick. He was not alone with kids, no complaints or negative comments. They said they would be vigilant”.
Turton said he contacted Father Brian Lucas and another senior professional standards consultant, and asked whether he should confront Brother Patrick.
“Their advice was no. The victim didn’t want it. No subsequent allegations. No cause for alarm at the present school,” Turton said.
Free: “What did you understand Brother Patrick to be doing at the time, as in at the time you called the school to ask whether he was going to be alone with kids or unsupervised, what did you understand his role to be?”
Turton: “I knew that he was technically retired from full time teaching. I was surprised that he was doing some sort of remedial or turoring and that’s why I asked the key people concerned, did thye consider that there was no danger and it was proper supervision and so on.”
Free: “Because of the fact that he did in fact have a role still teaching, you had some concern that he would in fact still have access to children?”
Turton: “If he had access, yes, that he was well supervised.”
Turton has been asked what he expected the principal and supervisor to do, when they said he would be vigilant.
Turton said “I think they would work out the details of what that meant”, but they would ensure Patrick was “always in situations with others and that other teachers were there”.
Turton was asked whether he, while a principal, would have been happy to take on the responsibility of exercising “vigilance” over a part time teacher in a school who was thought to pose a risk to children?
Turton: “Yes, I think I could look – I could look at establishing that that was happening.”
It’s been put to him that counsellors heard incidents after they happened.
2.04pm The royal commission resumes after the lunch break. Survivor CNR is giving evidence.
CNR grew up at Teralba with seven siblings. His father was a coal mine engineer. The family was very Catholic. His father went to a Marist school and said it was a wonderful experience.
CNR was in fourth class in 1966 and started serving as an altar boy in 1964. He went to schools run by the Mercy nuns. His friend is a survivor known to the royal commission as CQT.
Clergy regularly came to the house to share meals.
In 1969 CNR started school at Marist Brothers Hamilton.
“The pattern of violence I experienced with the Sisters of Mercy continued with the Marist Brothers,” CNR said.
CNR: “I felt that for some of them it was a case of ‘Them versus us’, a constant state of siege regulated by the cane.”
CNR said his first experience of Brother Patrick was in the playground, when CNR was in first form. Patrick noticed his shirt was untucked, called him over and “tucked my shirt in with his hand plunging all the way down into my shorts”.
CNR had Brother Dominic as a teacher when he was in third form in 1971. At first CNR thought Dominic was an excellent teacher, but he soon began to walk up behind him in class and start groping.
CNR: “As he continued commenting on my work he moved his hand down my back and into my shorts and put his hand on my bottom. I was twisting and struggling against him but he was enormously strong.”
CNR said Dominic had a smug look on his face as he walked away. He then went on to do the same to another boy in class.
Dominic groped CNR every fortnight for two years.
CNR: “It used to be a horror for me going into the room.”
CNR: “I remember that other boys would speak outside the classroom about Dominic’s groping. I remember one conversation that occurred sometimes during those two years with three of my friends. We discussed Dominic coming around and feeling everyone’s bum up. I was shocked to think he was doing this to so many boys and not one person had got up and run away from his desk. I guess it wasn’t really an option as we would have been flogged.”
In 1972 CNR had Brother Romuald as a teacher.
Almost immediately CNR had his hand down CNR’s back to touch his bottom.
CNR: “I was terrified and I tried to push myself away. I was seated at a double desk and I hit the boy next to me trying to move away. Brother Romuald did not even appear to struggle while he held me in place and, with his other arm, kept turning the pages of my exercise book. He was talking the whole time but I can’t remember what he said, just that he was speaking normally about my work.”
“There were around 56 or 58 students in the class who witnessed this as I made a big noise, and no-one said anything. It did my head in that no-one said anything and kept looking down.”
CNR said disclosing to adults, including his parents, “didn’t seem to be an option back then”.
CNR is now talking about the impact of being sexually abused by three Marist Brothers while at school.
CNR: “Everything shattered when the abuse by Brother Dominic started. I found it bizarre that a Marist Brother, who was supposed to have sacrificed his life for the church, would abuse kids. In my family there are several PhDs and it was a given that I would continue on to further study. Because of the abuse I left school as soon as I finished fourth term. I was in the top class so this was a shock to my family.”
CNR is describing the impact on his life.
He is on anti-depressants, was held in full-time psychiatric care for four months in 2014 because he intended to commit suicide.
CNR: “I am now heavily reliant on the care and emotional support provided by my wife to cope with everyday living and keep me safe. Even simple decisions and emotions are too much for me to cope with by myself.”
He said Clergy Abused Network (CAN) founder Bob O’Toole and former Maitland-Newcastle Catholic diocese child protection officer Helen Keevers worked to support him, and others, “with a selfless passion that provides me with a big blanket of reassurance. Without the meetings, at one point, I would have killed myself.”
1.17pm The royal commission has adjourned for lunch. We have been told Marist Brother Alexis Turton is expected to give evidence this afternoon.
12.30pm Survivor CNQ is giving evidence.
CNQ was born in 1965 and came from a devout family.
In 1977 he attended Marist Hamilton, where his teacher was Brother Dominic.
CNQ: “Brother Dominic appeared kind at first. He would ask me how I was settling in and cuddle me from behind.”
About four weeks after starting at the school, CNQ was “mucking up” in class and was sent to Brother Dominic’s office.
CNQ said he looked scared, and Dominic asked him to come around beside him. He cuddled CNQ, took his clothes off, asked if he had any friends, sat CNQ on his knee, and began kissing the side of his face.
He put his hand on CNQ’s penis and began masturbating him, while masturbating himself.
CNQ has told the royal commission the sexual abuse continued for some time, on many occasions, and the frequency of abuse increased in winter when the Brothers changed to wearing black habit.
CNQ: “Usually Brother Dominic would single me out in the playground, or when I was having lunch, and take me into his office.”
CNQ has told the royal commission that on one occasion, when CNQ had his pants down, a boy walked in and saw them. Brother Dominic “did not seem concerned that the boy had come into his office and had seen us”.
CNQ: “On another occasion, Brother Dominic undressed me and began masturbating me. He then bent me over the desk and inserted one of his fingers into my anus.”
CNQ said Dominic raped him on the final time he sexually abused him.
“I screamed. Brother Dominic then released me and helped me gather my clothes. He was rushing me to get dressed and literally pushed me out of his office,” CNQ said.
CNQ said Dominic did not abuse him again, but he walked into Dominic’s office some time later and saw another student being sexually abused.
During a school camp in 1978, the year 8 students were told to strip naked for their showers.
CNQ: “All the time, the Brothers would walk up and down the line looking at us. This made me feel very embarrassed and uncomfortable.”
He has told the royal commission that during the night he woke to find Brother Oswin with his hands down his pyjamas. He said when he showed he was awake, Brother Oswin said he was “checking on you”.
CNQ: “He pulled back and thumped his head on the top of the bunks.”
He said he believed Oswin was harsher in his punishments after that incident.
In 1980 Brother Patrick was his maths teacher. His nickname was “Pat the poofter”.
In that year Patrick repeatedly put his hand up and down CNQ’s thigh and rubbed his crotch area.
“When this first happened I was stunned because of what had happened to me in the past with Brother Dominic and Brother Oswin,” CNQ said.
Patrick asked him to stay after class on occasion, where he would talk to CNQ about masturbation and force his hand on his crotch.
CNQ: “Brother Patrick also abused me in the chapel on multiple occasions when he would take me for ‘confession’.”
The priests who came to take confession were Monsignor Patrick Cotter and Father Alan Hart.
CNQ: “Towards the end of second term in 1980, Brother Patrick sat in the desk next to me and started to touch my leg. By this time I had had enough and punched him hard in the head. He fell off the chair and I remember his head thumped into the next desk. He didn’t cane me. His face was red and he just stood up and told me to get outside. I was expecting him to hit me back.”
CNQ said another Brother, Brother Richard, asked him what had happened, and he said he had punched Brother Patrick, but did not say why. Brother Richard took him to speak to Brother Alfred.
CNQ said he told Brother Alfred, who was form master for years five and six, that Brother Patrick had put his hand on his thigh and leg and he had punched him for it.
CNQ: “Brother Alfred told me I would be going to the A class for mathematics and said ‘Stay away from Brother Patrick. Don’t go near him’. Brother Alfred did not seem surprised when I told him Brother Patrick had been touching my leg.”
CNQ said he told his mother what had happened, and some time later he and his mother visited Marist principal Brother John, who said his behaviour was not acceptable and he couldn’t punch people.
CNQ said he told brother John about what Patrick had been doing, and the Marist “put both hands up in a defensive manner and replied, ‘There is nothing I can do about that’.”
CNQ: “I said ‘That’s bullshit’ and he replied ‘Don’t speak to me like that’. He was very firm in the way he spoke to me. Mum started crying and I took her back out to the car and we drove off.”
A week after the meeting with Brother John, CNQ was performing as an altar boy and was approached by Father Lew Fenton who asked if everything was okay at school.
CNQ: “I said ‘Yep’. I thought that mum must have told him about the incident with Brother Patrick, since Father Fenton had never asked me things like that before.”
CNQ said he did not want to go back to Marist Brothers, so he and his mother had a meeting with Father Tom Brennan, who was principal at St Pius X, Adamstown.
Brennan asked why CNQ wanted to attend the school. CNQ said he had punched Brother Patrick because he had been touching him and he had had enough.
CNQ: “Father Brennan responded in the same way as Brother John, putting both hands up in a defensive manner and saying there was nothing he could do about it. He never suggested we go to the police to report Brother Patrick.”
CNQ has worked at different jobs but told the royal commission he had drinking problems on occasions.
CNQ reported to police in 2013 after reading an article saying Tom Brennan had been charged with sexually abusing a boy and concealing the crimes of paedophile priest John Denham.
CNQ: “I still do not have many friends, and I do not seek to have any serious relationships with women. I suffer flashbacks from my sexual abuse and am prone to outbursts of tears. I avoid crowds and public places, and I often think that my life has been wasted. In the last few years I have returned to the Catholic Church. I find this peaceful and it helps me in my relationships with other people.”
12pm The royal commission has resumed after the morning tea break, with evidence from survivor CNV.
He was born in Newcastle, and the fifth of seven boys. He also has two sisters.
He started at Marist Brothers Hamilton in 1972 while only 11.
He is giving evidence about being sexually abused by Brother Patrick.
He was playing cricket at Marist Park when Patrick “came from behind me and grabbed me, holding me in a way that I could not escape. He then proceeded to put his hand down my pants and explored my pubic area. He did whatever he wanted to do for as long as he wanted. I couldn’t get away. I just froze. I didn’t know what to do, so I just stood there”.
CNV: “I can’t explain what it felt like or what I was thinking at the time, but I was shocked and terrified enough not to move.”
CNV said his brother spoke to the school principal, Brother Christopher, and said something like: “What are you going to do about this Brother Patrick?”
CNV: “Brother Christopher responded with something like, ‘Well, he’s a very good maths teacher’”
In 1973 CNV was with about 20 other boys from Marist Brothers at Merewether ocean baths.
“I noticed Brother Romuald crouched down with his back to me. Suddenly he stood up, dropped his towel and turned around facing everyone with a full erection. I was really taken aback. Brother Romuald stood there for awhile with a wry smile on his face, or an expression that suggested, ‘Well, boys, have a good look at this’. We all just froze, then we quickly got dressed, got on the bus and went home. Just a normal day.”
Romuald called him into his room days later, and said what happened at the pool change rooms was nothing to worry about. He said Romuald described it as sex education.
CNV told his parents about Patrick and Romuald in about 1973, when he asked to leave the school.
CNV said his father told him, years later and on his death bed, that he told Brother Christopher about Patrick and Romuald.
His father said he told Christopher he was very unhappy that Patrick and Romuald were allowed to keep teaching.
CNV: “What is really upsetting to me is that I know Andrew Nash committed suicide in 1974. A lot of people believe Andrews was sexually abused by Brother Romuald, which led to Andrew’s death. If that is true, I would be disgusted. I know that my brother and my father told the Marist Brothers about Brother Romuald in 1972 and 1973. Action should have been taken against Brother Romuald then. It is devastating to think that they did nothing and Brother Romuald went on to abuse other boys because they did nothing. I also feel very, very angry because I, and other kids, were knowingly put in harm’s way.”
CNV said he spoke to Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone about Brother Patrick and Brother Romuald in 2008.
A few weeks later Malone phoned back. CNV said Malone said he had done some checking and one of the Brothers had retired, and the other had left the Marist Brothers.
CNV: “Bishop Malone then said something like ‘Well, there is no more risk to children, what do we do now? Are you satisfied with that?”
CNV: “It was my impression that Bishop Malone was more interested with whether I was going to seek compensation than with the protection of children. That was just my impression. When I told him I didn’t want anything, he seemed to give a sigh of relief.”
CNV contacted NSW Police Strike Force Georgiana at about that time, which was investigating serious child sex allegations against Father Peter Brock. CNV asked if police were interested in looking at Brother Romuald and Brother Patrick.
CNV: “I remember the police saying to me that Brother Romuald and Brother Patrick were not on their radar, so unless there was something serious, such as a rape, they were not able to investigate or not going to investigate at the time. I didn’t follow that up any further at that time.”
CNV made a statement to police a few years later, and Romuald was jailed for offences against numerous Marist Brothers students.
CNV said he had not been interested in seeking compensation from the church until recently.
CNV: “My impression is that only by hurting them financially that any change can be brought about. I still have Christian values but I struggle to continue to believe in the institution of the Catholic Church. It needs to change. My abuse has left me with a spiritual void. As a result, I have explored other false religions, which has detrimentally affected my marriage.”
11.25am The royal commission has adjourned for the morning tea break.
11.01am Survivor known as CNS is giving evidence.
He grew up in the Newcastle area, in a family with devout Catholic parents. He had eight brothers and sisters.
He was an altar boy, and started Marist Brothers High at Hamilton in 1969.
Teachers included Brothers Romuald, Cassian, Ormond, Christopher, Francis, Bennett, Terrence, Dominic, Patrick, Jack Tully, Jack McNamara, Peter Carroll, Charles Hocking, Kevin Berger, Brian Wann.
There were rumours about three teachers – Dominic, Romuald and Patrick – who were known by students as “poofs” who were “touchy feely” and would put their hands down boys’ shirts.
CNS can remember seeing Dominic put his hands down the pants of a boy in the playground. Another boy also saw it, and remarked on it.
CNS is now talking about Brother Patrick, who came up to him in the classroom in 1971, while CNS was in third floor, and the Brother tried to put his hand down the teen’s shorts. He was prepared for it, and was wearing a belt tight.
“I was scared of Brother Patrick. I had seen another boy in my class stand up and tell Brother Patrick to leave him alone. I presumed that Brother Patrick had been touching him. The boy was then slapped and punched by Patrick for standing up to him and was beaten all the way to the door and out of the classroom. When Patrick used the cane he would get himself in a fury. He was a sadistic and habitual cancer,” CNS said.
“Brother Patrick sexually abused me on numerous occasions during that year, but I always wore a tight belt so he was never able to get his hand right down inside my pants and on to my genitals. He would push his hand down as far as his fingers could reach, before my belt prevented him from going further.
“From memory, I would say that I saw Brother Patrick molest one or more boys every maths lesson. As the year went on, I noticed that Brother Patrick had his favourites.”
He told his parents he would not return to the school, and they agreed that he could go to St Pius X at Adamstown.
CNS is now talking about an incident where he and another boy threw fireworks into the school. Brother Romuald said he had to speak to the principal, Brother Christopher, the following day.
When Christopher told CNS he had been immature, CNS said he didn’t care what Christopher said, because he was leaving the school.
CNS said he asked Christopher how he could justify having Brothers Romuald, Patrick and Dominic at the school and Christopher knew what he was talking about.
CNS said his younger brother, CNV, was also molested at the school, and also moved to St Pius.
CNS said the abuse by Brother Patrick affected his schooling. He is now telling the royal commission about being caned six times by Brother Christopher for truanting. When CNS returned to the classroom, he was caned on his other hand by his school teacher.
“Both my hands were swollen and useless,” CNS said.
“There was a definite feeling, possibly misguided on my part, that the Marist Brothers could do whatever they wanted with us with impunity,” CNS said.
Two of CNS’s brothers complained to their parents about Brothers Romuald and Patrick, and also about Father John Denham, who was a teacher at St Pius.
Romuald and Denham are in jail after being convicted of serious child sexual abuse against multiple boys.
The Marist Brothers acknowledged in 2015 that Brother Patrick sexually abused multiple boys over years.
Lawyer Mr Brady, for Brother Christopher.
Brady: “I want to suggest to you that you didn’t say anything to Brother Christopher about those brothers molesting children. You would agree with that, I take it?”
CNS: “I absolutely, definitely spoke to him about. It was the one important part of that conversation that meant something to me. I am absolutely sure that Brother Christopher remembered this, and it made an impression upon him, for the very reason that I was on the school grounds in 1974. I was in the company of the school captain, who was a friend of mine, the school grounds of Marist Brothers Hamilton. He was quite proud of the fact that he was the school captain. Brother Christopher appeared in the quadrangle and saw me in the company of the school captain. He called the school captain over to him and my friend came back very embarrassed and said ‘Brother Christopher just said to me ‘Get that bastard off the school grounds’. I’m sure that it made a great impression upon him that I had the temerity to stand up to him and say ‘What about these guys molesting us boys, you hypocrites’.”
CNS is now talking about the brutality of Marist Brothers Hamilton.
CNS: “I’ve come to the conclusion that the physical abuse in the form of the harsh punishment, the canings, the grabbing kids around the neck and by the tie and strangling them and punching them, ensured that we were constantly in fear of our teachers, and this enabled them to get away with it. We were too scared to stand up to them and say, ‘No, what you are doing is wrong’. We knew in our hearts that it was wrong, that they didn’t have the right to put their hands down our pants and do things like that, but we were too scared to do anything about it, and the only avenue that we had to protect ourselves were passive means like doing your belt up tight, sitting next to the window so that you weren’t immediately accessible.”
10.40am Survivor Michael Balk, 64, is giving evidence to the royal commission.
Balk said he was born into a practising Catholic family. Because his father was in the NSW Railways, the family moved around a lot.
He said he moved to Sydney in 1964, and in 1965 started second form at the Marist Brothers school, St Gabriels, at Pagewood.
In 1966 he came across Brother Romuald, the science master who taught in all years. He was also head of the cadets, and taught swimming. Romuald started a radio club that was very popular with boys.
“I recall hearing rumours among the students to stay clear of the labs and Romuald. At the time I had no personal experience to relate to the rumours,” Balk said.
In 1966 or 1967 he went to the Moorebank army base where Romuald looked at boys in the showers.
At another camp at Singleton, Romuald called all boys to come out of their tents wearing only boots and coats for a medical inspection of the boys’ genitals.
Balk: “He called it a small arms parade.”
Some time later Romuald came up to Balk while he was in the science lab, leaning against a science bench. Romuald pressed his groin against his bottom.
“He did not engage me in conversation and immediately afterwards he walked away,” Balk said.
It happened at other times.
Romuald came up to Balk at Heffron Park swimming pool on another occasion while Romuald was training the boys in swimming.
After other boys had left “I was still in the pool and swimming to the side to get out. Brother Romuald swam underneath me, between my legs. He pushed my legs apart and grabbed my penis on the outside of my swimmers, on the way past. I was shocked by his behaviour.”
Romuald later came up to him in the change room, naked, and grabbed Balk’s hand to put on his penis.
Balk has told the royal commission he believes he told Romuald to stop, or they had an argument. Balk said he was bullied by Romuald after that incident.
Later the school principal, Brother Kevin, arrived at his house and asked to speak to his father.
Balk said he told Brother Kevin and his father what had happened to him.
“Brother Kevin did not seem shocked by my allegations. His reaction was more in line with my story confirming what he already knew. Brother Kevin then assured my father that Brother Romuald had been spoken to and that he said he would be moved to another school. There was no mention of reporting it to the police. No other boys were mentioned, and Brother Kevin did not indicate if Brother Romuald had admitted to the behaviour,” Balk said.
“Brother Kevin stayed at my place for a cup of tea. After he left, I sat down with my parents and dad explained what had happened to my mother. Mum was shocked and my parents went on to explain that even in the best of schools, there could always be one bad apple and that this should be a lesson in life. My mother also said she felt very sorry for Brother Kevin having to deal with the parents in this situation.
“My parents’ reaction to the abuse was that it was just something that had happened, but they did not seem to be too concerned. In fact, I remember that my mother was mostly embarrassed that she had had to open a can of Carnation milk for Brother Kevin’s tea.”
Romuald remained at the school to the end of the year.
Balk’s abuse pre-dated the majority of cases that occurred in the Hunter area. Balk reported his abuse to police in 2013.
Romuald was sentenced to 16 years’ jail.
Balk: “To me, fault lies with Brother Kevin and his superiors who arranged to move Brother Romuald to another school. Brother Kevin should have taken action to stop him. In my opinion, it was his fault that Brother Romuald continued to abuse more boys and it is his fault that more lives have been shattered.”
Balk has launched civil litigation against the Marist Brothers, and does not want an apology.
“I think that money is the only thing that makes the hierarchy take notice. An apology to me would be totally meaningless,” Balk said.
He is describing the consequences of the abuse on his life.
He had always been enthusiastic within the church until recently.
“I have continued with my faither and have been very active in the church. Recently, however, I have lost my enthusiasm as a result of seeing the church’s response to child sexual abuse and other issues. I have become disillusioned with the organisation that just doesn’t seem to want to change. I am angry and sad that the response of the church has undone all of the good that has been achieved over hundreds of years. It has all just gone down the gurgler.”
“Even today, I don’t think I truly understand the full extent of the effects of the abuse on my life. I think back to that teacher that I initially respected and looked up to, someone who could have fuelled my passion for engineering and had a profoundly positive influence on my life. Instead, I remember how he deceived me and took advantage of me, and it makes me angry that he has caused so much hurt to so many boys.”
10.06am The royal commission has resumed for the second week, with Maitland-Newcastle priest Bill Burston to give evidence. Father Burston gave evidence at the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry in 2013.
Burston was an assistant priest in Maitland from 1971 to 1974, and from 1975 he was director of the Catholic Welfare Bureau, that later became Centacare.
He was vicar-general (the equivalent of an acting bishop) from 1996 and retired in 2015 after the findings of the Special Commission of Inquiry.
Burston was at college and the seminary with notorious paedophile priest Father Vince Ryan, and described himself as “friends, but not bosom companions”.
Burston went to Taree in October, 1995, where Ryan was arrested by police to be charged with child sex offences.
Burston was vicar general when the diocese conducted a review of its handling of the Ryan case.
Burston has just been shown a page of the report, which includes that in 1975, after reports of serious child sexual abuse by Ryan were made known to serious members of the diocese, including Monsignor Patrick Cotter, “there was a a small group who were aware, in varying degrees, of the nature of the disclosures relating to Father Ryan. This included a priest who was a trained psychologist and had a continued association with Father Ryan. On a few occasions he wondered whether further inappropriate activity was occurring but had no clear evidence”.
Burston has just been told one of the report’s authors has made a statement to the royal commission, saying the “trained psychologist” was Bill Burston.
Counsel assisting Stephen Free has just asked Burston about another part of the report saying “Father Ryan’s response to the news led to a period of incapacity to work and this indicated to the colleague that something might be amiss in his relationship with the young man. The colleague did not approach Father Ryan about his misgivings and did not discuss the matter with the bishop of the day”.
Free has just asked Burston what his response was to being told by Cotter about the allegations against Ryan.
Burston said he was puzzled and shocked, but more puzzled. He didn’t speak to Ryan about it because he said he “wasn’t close enough, friendly enough, I don’t think, to ask him about it”.
Burston is now being questioned about whdether he knew about a complaint from a boy after an incident involving the boy and a Marist Brother at Bar Beach surf club.
Burston said “No”.
He also said he knew nothing about a report by a boy of an incident involving a Marist Brother at a father and son camp.
Burston is now being questioned about the death of Andrew Nash in October, 1974. Andrew was a student at Hamilton Marist Brothers, with Brother Romuald as his year master. Romuald has been convicted of child sex offences about multiple former students. Andrew was 13 when he hanged himself in his bedroom at his home in Hamilton. In an interview with the Newcastle Herald his mother, Audrey, described her son as a happy boy. His brother, sisters and friends at the school have also told the Herald Andrew was a cheery boy.
Mrs Nash can only recall one incident from the time that might give an indication something was going on that she and other family members might not have been aware of.
In the period before his death Andrew did not arrive home from school, as was his habit, until much later than normal. Mrs Nash was distraught when he finally appeared. He was very quiet, and the only thing he would say was that he had been at Bar Beach.
It was not until many years later, during police investigations of allegations against Brother Romuald, that some of his victims told police that Romuald had sexually abused them at Bar Beach.
Bill Burston told the royal commission he went to the house to anoint Andrew (a church sacrament when someone is dying or dead), after receiving a phone call. He said he could not remember who rang to tell him that Andrew had died. It is worth noting that the Nash family, at that time, did not have a home phone. When Andrew Nash’s brother found him in his bedroom, Mrs Nash ran out to the street to get help because they couldn’t call for an ambulance.
Burston said he can’t recall speaking to Father Tom Brennan and Father Patrick Helferty about it, and repeated that there was no one else with him – either priests or Marist Brothers from the school – when he attended the Nash home.
Lawyer Hilbert Chiu, for Andrew’s mother Audrey Nash: “And you are absolutely sure that when you were there, there were no other priests there with you?”
Chiu: “And there were no brothers there with you?”
Burston: “No, there were not.”
Burston is being questioned about his contact with the Nash family after Andrew’s death, and whether he was aware of contact by other clergy or Brothers after Andrew’s death.
Chiu: “Did you ever speak to (Mrs Nash) in your capacity as a psychologist?”
Burston: “No, I don’t think so, no.”
Chiu: “Did you ever speak to her to offer her words of comfort about the loss of her son?”
Burston: “I would have, yes.”
He said he did not know if Mrs Nash’s parish priest, Father Cahill, visited the family.
Chiu: “What did you tell Father Cahill (the parish priest)? Did you tell him how it happened?”
Burston: “”I can’t recall precisely. I haven’t thought – in the sort of words I would have used, no.”
Chiu: “Father Burston, thois was a 13-year-old boy who had hanged himself, isn’t that right?”
Burston: “Yes, who – yes. Who had died.”
Chiu: “Well, he had hanged himself in his own bedroom, isn’t that right?”
Burston: “Yes.”
Burston said he had discussions with people about why it might have happened, but couldn’t recall them.
Asked whether he checked if Father Cahill went to see the family, Burston answered no, it “wasn’t my position to check that”.
Burston has told the royal commission that was something a parish priest should do, and regularly.
Mrs Nash has already told the Newcastle Herald that the absence of contact by clergy after Andrew’s death added to her grief, and that of her family.
Chiu: “You were aware at the time that Mrs Nash was living with her children and her husband was away?”
Burston: “Yes.”
Chiu: “And she was dealing with this grief on her own?”
Burston: “Yes.
Chiu: “Father Burston, did you tell other people that Andrew’s death was a prank gone wrong?”
Burston: “I may have. I don’t remember the phrase, and I don’t remember telling anybody, actually, about it. But it seemed to me that I could well have used those – those words, yes.”
Chiu: “A prank gone wrong – those words?”
Burston: “Yes.”
Chiu: “On what basis would you have come to that conclusion, that it was a prank gone wrong?”
Burston: “My recollection is that there was no – now this is a recollection of 40 years ago, that there was no sign of any anxiety or trauma, that he had planned the next day what to wear, so it looked as though – and he had been playing hide and seek with one of his sisters. So it looked as though that could have been what happened.”
Chiu: “So does that mean you applied some form of psychological analysis at the time to understand why he killed himself?”
Burston: “I didn’t see it as having killed himself. I saw it as having – having died, you know.”
Chiu: “So you didn’t even consider that he killed himself?”
Burston: “There didn’t seem to be any indications that he had.”
Chiu: “And then you went and told other people that it was a prank gone wrong?”
Burston: “I don’t know. That – as that question comes to me, that sounds as though I spread a rumour. I don’t recall doing that.”
Sections of Father Burston’s evidence are being blanked out. We have been advised that is for legal reasons.
Lawyer McMahon for Burston has questioned him about where he phoned different priests. He said he went to the presbytery to make the calls.
He said he came to believe it was a “prank gone wrong” after speaking to Father Cahill. He said he thought Father Cahill had the information from a police officer.
In 2015 the Newcastle Herald reported that Coroner Reginald Radford delivered an open finding on December 19, 1974 after an inquest into Andrew Nash’s death.
"Whether he died accidentally or otherwise, the evidence adduced does not enable me to say," Mr Radford found.
A finding of suicide would have made Andrew one of the youngest people recorded in Australia to have taken his life. Mrs Nash believes it was suicide, and the coroner was simply unable to say the word at an inquest in front of a grieving Catholic mother and her surviving son.
10.00am
Good morning. It’s Joanne McCarthy back at the Royal Commission hearings in Newcastle, with the focus today on the response of Catholic Church authorities in the Maitland-Newcastle region to allegations of child sexual abuse.
To read more about the hearings into the Newcastle Anglican diocese, check the video and links below.
- AS IT HAPPENED: Royal Commission day one
- AS IT HAPPENED: Royal Commission day two
- AS IT HAPPENED: Royal Commission day three
- AS IT HAPPENED: Royal Commission day four
- AS IT HAPPENED: Royal Commission day five
- AS IT HAPPENED: Royal Commission day six
- AS IT HAPPENED: Royal Commission day seven
- AS IT HAPPENED: Royal Commission day eight
- AS IT HAPPENED: Royal Commission day nine