Police Charge a De LA Salle Brother Re Child-Abuse Allegations at Boystown, Queensland

The Broken Rites
October 16, 2013

http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/261

On 8 October 2013, Queensland police charged a man with having sexually abused children at a Catholic boys' institution in the 1980s.  On the same day, 8 October 2013, the Catholic order of De La Salle Brothers issued a media statement confirming that the charges involve a De La Salle Brother. Broken Rites has ascertained that the charges were laid by a police unit which is investigating allegations about BoysTown (at Beaudesert, south-west of Brisbane). This institution was formerly operated by the De La Salle Brothers to hold troubled boys.

This Brother faces 11 charges for offences allegedly committed between September 30, 1984, and December 1, 1986. These include nine counts of indecent treatment of boys under 14, plus one count of carnal knowledge and one count of physical assault.

On 8 October 2013, the Brother (now aged 58 and living in New South Wales) was issued with an order that he must appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on a certain date for a preliminary step in which prosecutors would file the charges with a magistrate. This magistrate would then schedule the case to come up again for mention in court on a later date to determine the subsequent step in the prosecution process. Under Queensland law, a defendant's name cannot be published until after a magistrates court decides to commit him for trial.

Broken Rites has ascertained that the charges were laid against this Brother at a Brisbane police station on 8 October 2013 by detectives from "Operation Kilo Lariat". This unit was established to investigate complaints from former residents of BoysTown Beaudesert.

BoysTown  was established at Beaudesert in 1961, and was operated by the De La Salle Brothers until it closed in 2001. The De La Salle Brothers still own the prominent "BoysTown" revenue-raising organisation, which was incorporated in 2002 as a public company called "BoysTown Limited". BoysTown Limited operates throughout Australia, with headquarters in Brisbane.

On 16 Sept 2012, the Nine Network television program "Sixty Minutes" aired an item about child-abuse allegations at BoysTown Beaudesert, including interviews with former BoysTown boys. The reporter was Michael Usher.

On the day after the "Sixty Minutes" program, Fairfax media reported that Queensland Police were referring the BoysTown Beaudesert allegations to the Child Safety and Sexual Crime Group in State Crime Operations Command. A Queensland Police spokesman said that a special operation (Operation Kilo Lariat) has been launched to investigate the BoysTown allegations.

On 8 October 2013 the De La Salle Brothers headquarters (in Sydney) confirmed (in a media statement) that a De La Salle Brother is facing charges in relation to allegations of child sex abuse. According to this media statement, the De La Salle religious order has stood this man down.

BoysTown "Limited"

The De La Salle statement on 8 October 2013 sought to make a distinction between the now-defunct BoysTown Beaudesert and the on-going "BoysTown Limited". The statement said:

"The individual [who has been charged] does not and has not worked at BoysTown Ltd. It is important to note that BoysTown Ltd is an independent organisation, operating as a public company limited by guarantee with an independent Board of Directors. The Trustees of the De La Salle Brothers are the owners of the company.  BoysTown Ltd was incorporated in 2002."

BoysTown Limited has a website which says that this organisation raises funds by conducting "art unions". The website says:

"BoysTown runs 15 Art Unions each year - 10 Prize Home Draws and five Prestige Car Draws. For only $15 a ticket, each Prize Home Draw gives the chance to win a home in inner Sydney or Melbourne, the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast. First prize is always in excess of $1 million. A $10 ticket gives Prestige Car Draw supporters the chance to win luxury vehicles such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Audi."

De La Salle College

On 8 October 2012, the De La Salle head office in Sydney was also keen to protect the brand-name "De La Salle". Australia has several secondary schools in Australia using the name "De La Salle", including De La Salle College Ashfield in Sydney's inner-west and De La Salle College Malvern in Melbourne's inner south-east. These schools, which had unpretentious origins many years ago, are now booming as "private" schools for aspiring families.

When Broken Rites first discovered the media statement by De La Salle headquarters on 8 October 2013, the statement was on a website called "Burwood Scene", which caters for the Burwood/Ashfield area in Sydney - that is, in the vicinity of De La Salle  College Ashfield.

On 9 October 2013, the Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper published a brief statement from De La Salle headquarters in Sydney, saying that the police charges against a De La Salle Brother in Queensland are not related to "De La Salle College Malvern" in Melbourne.

The De La Salle Brothers own another "prestigious" Melbourne school - St Bede's College on a valuable seaside frontage at Mentone in Melbourne's south. But Broken Rites expects that any forthcoming adverse publicity about De La Salle Brothers in Queensland would affect  those schools that are called "De La Salle College", rather than one with a name such as St Bede's College.

More about BoysTown Beaudesert

Broken Rites Australia understands that, in October 2013,  detectives from Operation Kilo Lariat are investigating further complaints about alleged abuse at BoysTown, Beaudesert.