Victims of Abuse in Australia, Including Maltese, May Receive Additional Compensation

Times of Malta
May 8, 2014

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140508/local/victims-of-abuse-in-australia-including-maltese-may-receive-additional-compensation.518173


Christian Brothers in and around Perth in Australia are to review child-abuse settlements considered unjust and unreasonably low by the victims, including some from Malta, a Royal Commission has been told.

The commission was considering institutional responses to child sexual abuse, which took place mostly in the 1960s.

During the hearings, the commission heard evidence, including by Maltese men, of relentless rapes and beatings they suffered when they were boys.

As the hearings ended yesterday, the order announced it would provide lifelong psychological counselling to abuse survivors.

Victims who had received compensation of A$2,000 in a 1996 class ­action and were compelled to waive any ­future action against the order as a condition of payment will have the settlement reviewed. The order may sell some of its properties to fund the compensation.