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	Secrets from the Devil's Playground By Des Houghton The Courier-Mail April 16, 2010 http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/secrets-from-the-devils-playground/story-e6frereo-1225854687264 IT began with a letter from a dead man attempting to explain why he molested schoolgirls. "I was in love with so many," wrote Kevin Guy, a boarding master at an Anglican-run school. "Why do I have to justify my love?" The spiteful pedophile wrote the first names of 20 little girls in his disturbing farewell letter. Guy had been arrested on child-sex charges but took his own life on December 18, 1990, before facing court. He was 39. When Amanda Gearing was sent to report on the story, she had no idea she was about to be immersed in the chilling world of pedophilia. The Toowoomba mother of four high-achieving children was reporting for The Courier-Mail when parents complained of a church cover-up of abuse of girls at an Anglican school. Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. Gearing filed many stories and became a trusted confidant for sexual abuse victims throughout Toowoomba, Brisbane, and the nation. And she would stumble on hitherto unreported cases of torture by notorious Brisbane pedophile Kevin Lynch. Lynch, whose kid-friendly nickname "Skippy" belied his treacherous intent, was a venomous little creature who sexually persecuted boys at two of Brisbane's schools. "The more stories I wrote, the more the victims came out of the woodwork to tell of abuse in churches and church schools," Gearing said. "It was horrible. They contacted me from most states in Australia. They were from many Christian denominations. "I realised the sexual assault of children was a deadly epidemic across the country. "Many victims harboured feelings of worthlessness and were killing themselves." A turning point came when she was invited to speak at a seminar on sex abuse at the University of NSW in Sydney. "I became a kind of child protection advocate," Gearing said. "I said to them: 'I'm not a lawyer or a counsellor but if you want someone to hold your hand, I'm available'." A dozen "survivors", as Gearing calls them, lined up seeking advice. She listened to horrific cases dating back decades. I suggested she got too close to the story but she rejected the idea. Journalism is about revealing the truth, however ugly, she said. And reveal she did. "Until I started this work it, never crossed my mind that anyone would want to offend against a child in this way," she said. Her own backyard was a notorious Devil's playground crying out for public disclosure. The family of one of Guy's victims brought a civil action against the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane in an effort to have the church acknowledge Guy's abuse of their daughter. The diocese was found guilty of negligence of its duty of care and a jury awarded her $834,800 in compensation, including a record $400,000 punitive damages. It was the biggest payout of its kind in Australian legal history. In evidence, the girl's psychologist Joy Conolly told the court she phoned Hollingworth seeking his help but he told her he was too tired and needed a holiday and there was nothing he could do. Gearing's reporting in The Courier-Mail forced an Anglican church inquiry. There was an 11-year delay before the diocese admitted guilt, Gearing said. "It was what shocked me," she said. "However, I was reluctant to do anything because I am an Anglican." Her editors, nevertheless, urged her to continue her investigations. Gearing has now compiled a scroll containing the names of 206 clergy found guilty of sexual abuse in Australia in the past 20 years. It is incomplete. She has spent 18 months writing a 110,000-word report on sex abuse that contains fresh allegations against church figures and teachers around the country. A senior church figure, not in Queensland, stands accused of raping three daughters with their father's blessing. A copy of her opus is now in the hands of the Crime and Misconduct Commission. It wasn't an easy road for Gearing. "People in my own congregation were accusing me of destroying the church," she said. "Unbeknown to me, a priest was asked to keep an eye on me by Archbishop Hollingworth. "I was shattered. I didn't know the priest was a spy at the time." Widespread sexual abuse by Kevin Lynch was not revealed until 2000. The veteran counsellor violated large numbers of boys. Yet students' complaints - according to court records - were dismissed as "vexatious, vindictive, and entirely without foundation". Lynch was a monster. The Anglican inquiry in 2003 was told that a male student reported in 1995 that Lynch had disclosed the size of his penis to students. Lynch sexually abused countless students and committed suicide in 1997, aged 64, a day after he was charged with indecent dealing. Gearing now fears payouts may bankrupt her church. "I believe the Anglican diocese does not have the capacity to compensate or provide medical care and counselling for the victims," she said. One man last week won more than $500,000 for physical and mental abuse in an out-of-court settlement. Two to three dozen former students have already been compensated. Gearing said it took males up to 25 years to report attacks on them. "They will start coming out of the woodwork in big numbers in 2015," she said. There have been scores of sex cases involving church figures. In 2004, retired Anglican bishop Donald Shearman was defrocked for sexual offences dating back to the 1950s. Former Church of England boarding master Frederick Roy Hoskins was 80 when he was jailed in 2004 for molesting seven boys aged between nine and 15. Gearing points to research from Adelaide Professor Freda Briggs which suggests 98 per cent of child molesters are not caught. And while she says the churches have lost much of their moral authority, Gearing believes they are worth saving. "We need moral leadership. I'm hoping true Christianity will rise again without this corrupt baggage it has been carrying for so long."
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