Royal Commission Witnesses...

Telegraph
February 3, 2014

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/royal-commission-witnesses-claim-they-were-sexually-and-physically-abused-by-salvos-captains-and-beaten-by-the-police-if-they-fled/story-fni0cx4q-1226816900136

Image of the children's home in Bexley, where the Royal Commission heard sexual and physical abuse took place over a long period of time. Today’s allegations centre on the Gill Memorial Home in Goulburn. Source: Supplied

NSW police beat boys who ran away from a Salvation Army home where they were being abused, a hearing in Sydney has been told.

Mark Stiles told the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse that he was 12 when he was sexually abused at the Gill Memorial Home in Goulburn, NSW, by Captain Russell Walker.

Mr Stiles said he would be woken up at 3am and be taken to the bathroom by Mr Walker.

He said the abuse happened four times a week over the 14-month period he was at Gill, in 1971 and 1972.

He was too scared to tell anyone, the commission heard.

He ran away twice. The first time he and another boy were picked up by a police car not far from the home.

Mr Stiles said he told police he had been physically abused by Captain Lawrence Wilson, who was managing the home, and sexually abused by Mr Walker.

The commission has received numerous allegations about both men. Mr Wilson died in 2008, while Mr Walker has been notified of the hearing.

"Police just gave us a flogging by belting me across the neck and the side of the head and took us back to the home," Mr Stiles said.

After police informed the management at Gill about complaints "the beatings and punishment was so severe that I said nothing from then on," Mr Stiles said.

He told John Agius SC for the NSW Police he would be willing to help identify the officers within the force.

Mr Stiles described Mr Wilson as a violent man who once kicked an eight-year-old boy down the length of the dining hall and Mr Walker kicked him back again.

Another witness said when he was five years old at the home he was punished repeatedly for wetting his bed. His face was rubbed in the wet sheets.

He was also forced to sweep the playground with a toothbrush.

The commission also heard from Kevin Marshall, a resident at a Salvation Army boys home in Bexley, in southern Sydney, for eight years from 1966.

He said the manager of Bexley at the time was a Captain Wilson and he arranged for boys to go to a camp on weekend outings.

"I was also aware of boys being sexually abused at camp and in some cases being sent to Salvation Army members' houses after church where sexual abuse occurred," he told the commission.

The hearing is continuing with Salvation Army whistleblowers Marina and Cliff Randall expected to take the stand later on Monday.