Boys' Carers at Salvation Army Home, 'They Were Cruel Bastards'

By Paul Bibby, Court Reporter
Sydney Morning Herald
January 29, 2014

http://www.smh.com.au/national/boys-carers-at-salvation-army-home-they-were-cruel-bastards-20140129-31mzb.html

Received compensation: Wally McLeod outside the royal commission on child sex abuse. Photo: Janie Barrett

Some boys knew it as ''the cage'', others ''the lock-up'' - a small cell with iron bars built into the door. And for youngsters at the Salvation Army's Riverview Training Farm in Queensland it was a place of dread.

Some of those who broke the rules at the institution were placed in the dark space by the Salvation Army officers charged with their care and kept there for days and even weeks, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard on Wednesday.

''One day me and two other guys did something wrong - I forget what it was - and we were put in the holding cell,'' one former resident, known as ES, told the commission. ''It was a room like - it looked like it had a door and iron bars on the front, just like your normal cell.''

The man, now in his 60s, said boys were forced to sleep on the floor of the tiny room without a pillow or even a blanket. ''We went to the toilet in a bucket.''

It was a chilling tale from a day when painful recollections overflowed. As the commission dug deeper into the abuse of boys who attended homes run by the Salvation Army in NSW and Queensland, four former residents from Riverview gave evidence of extreme sexual and physical abuse, and the alleged failures of police and welfare agencies to intervene.

''I felt like he had a hatred for me as soon as I got to Riverview,'' ES told the commission of the man who allegedly ordered his confinement, Captain Victor Bennett. ''He took a disliking for some reason and the fact I just wouldn't do what they told me to do. He tried to break me.''

But the commission heard it was not only officers who inflicted the abuse, but older boys at the home. ''He was about 17 or 18 years old - a big fellow and in my view he was a sick bastard,'' ES told the inquiry.

''He made me and another little fellow do things to him like suck his penis. Me and another fella ran away. When [the police] caught us I told them what was happening to us, but all they did was call Captain Bennett and say, 'Is this happening?' and he said, 'No,' and they sent me straight back.

The commission heard this was not the only time the authorities failed in their duty of care.

Wally McLeod said at one stage during his time at Riverview he became aware that four boys had complained to officers from the Queensland welfare department about one alleged perpetrator, referred to as ''Captain Cowling''.

Mr McLeod said no action was taken by the officers and that ''when Captain Cowling found out he had them both flogged''.

Another former resident recalled the staff would force the boys to fight each other for their own entertainment. ''They just used to think, 'Oh, well, we'll get the boys over and have them beat the crap out of each other,'' he said.

''They were cruel bastards. If you didn't want to fight they'd make the other boy hit you until you got mad and started to fight for real.''

Mr McLeod said he received a $20,000 compensation payment for the abuse he allegedly suffered - a payment he allegedly accepted ''under duress''. It included signing a form that released the institution from further liability.

The hearings continue.