Former St Pius Student to Tell Royal Commission Private Hearings of Abuse
ABC News
A former student at Newcastle's Catholic St Pius high school will this week tell the Royal Commission about how sexual abuse by a teaching priest ruined his life. The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse is holding four days of private hearings in Newcastle, with 32 people to give evidence about their experiences of abuse in the Hunter region. The anonymous evidence could lead to further public hearings. Former St Pius student "Steven" is due to give evidence tomorrow and said the assaults occured in the 1960s in the bedroom of a priest who lived at the school. "(He) got me after hours to end up in his bedroom, where he sexually assaulted me," he said. "This happened on many occasions. "And it really stuffed up my early teen years and, looking back 50 years, I can see how much it stuffed up my whole life." He has explained that family considerations delayed his decision to come forward to police and church authorities. "What was happening eventually became known to my mother, who suspected from phone calls I'd been getting," he said. "In later years I made it clear to my mother that this had been happening. "Her first reaction, as was very typical of the times, was, 'Whatever you do, don't tell your father - it would kill him'."
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