Former residents of a home for Indigenous children that has been at the centre of recent hearings of the royal commission into child sexual abuse have marched on a Darwin police station to demand charges be laid against an alleged abuser.

The royal commission has wrapped up after almost two weeks of hearings in Darwin about the Retta Dixon home, which housed children from 1946 until 1980.

Nine former residents gave harrowing evidence of physical, emotional and sexual abuse suffered at the hands of carers.

This included being raped and molested, belted until they bled, force-fed until they vomited, and chained to their beds.

Former house parent Donald Henderson was twice committed to stand trial for sexual abuse, in 1976 and 2002, but both times prosecutors dropped the charges over a lack of evidence.

However there was enough evidence to proceed to trial with about half of the charges in 2002, the commission heard, and the office of the director of public prosecutions was too hasty in abandoning the case.

On Wednesday, after the hearings finished, a group of former residents and supporters marched to the Darwin CBD police station to ask that charges again be laid against Henderson, now 78.

Sue Roman, who lived at Retta Dixon for 13 years, said the request was to ensure the commission proceedings were not in vain.

“We feel the process has been thoroughly worth it, as painful, hurtful and emotional as it’s been,” she told reporters on behalf of the alleged victims. “It’s an opportunity for people to gain some of their power and control back.”

Reverend Trevor Leggott, head of the Christian Australian Indigenous Ministries (AIM) which ran the home, said on Tuesday that the organisation could not afford to sell part of its $4.1m property portfolio to compensate victims as it would curtail missionary work, which “is more constructive”.

Roman said they did not take seriously the apology issued by Leggott, one day before he appeared before the commission.

“We’re over symbolism; it wasn’t genuine ... he showed no morals whatsoever,” she said.

She said they would continue to seek financial redress from AIM and push for it to sell its assets. “They need to disappear,” she said.

She praised the courage of the witnesses who gave often deeply emotional evidence about the abuse they suffered.

“We’ve all been victims of sexual abuse; what you’ve seen is a sample,” she said, adding that although they could now move towards closure, they would never recover. “When you’ve been totally destroyed, rebuilding is really hard.”

The commission will hear submissions on 17 November in Sydney.