Standen Victims Seek Compensation
By Louise Thrower
INDECENT assault victims of Brother William Standen are seeking compensation from the Christian Brothers Oceania in the wake of his conviction and sentencing. A Canberra law firm has also revealed it acted in past civil matters for other victims of Brother Standen, who were “beaten like a dog.” The 67-year-old Standen, known as Brother Dave, was sentenced to nine years two months’ jail with a non-parole period of four years, seven months in Sydney District Court last Friday. He had pleaded guilty to 17 charges of indecent assault on boys aged 12 to 14, and one act of indecency on a boy, while he was a teacher and dormitory master at St Patrick’s College, Goulburn between 1978 and 1981. Canberra firm, Porters Lawyers has revealed it is seeking compensation on behalf of some of the 18 victims from this case. Principal Jason Parkinson declined to say how much they were seeking. But he told the Post that over the past few years he had represented five to 10 of Standen’s victims, who were ex-St Pat’s students, in civil matters. He had also sought compensation for those allegedly abused by other Brothers at the College. Mostly, they had never gone to police with the claims. “I’ve acted for those who were either indecently assaulted or were beaten with a leather strap by him,” Mr Parkinson said. “One was beaten 24 times in a row. If you beat a dog like that you would go to jail. I’ve represented three boys who were strapped and I can tell you, it caused deep psychological injury to this day.” The civil cases brought ‘trespass of the body’ and ‘gross physical abuse’ charges against Standen. The physical abuse stemmed from the 1980s. The Christian Brothers Oceania declined to answer specific questions about the civil matters but instead, issued a statement. Mr Parkinson said some of these were resolved after writs were issued in the Supreme Court and the Christian Brothers settled the matters before they reached hearing. Most of the matters have been finalised. Victims’ cases from the most recent court criminal conviction are ongoing. “The important thing is that he (Standen) has been convicted and for these men to see that their abuser has been sentenced to jail because it shows that the system works and that all victims should be coming forward to police,” Mr Parkinson said. “But secondly, it is only half the job done. It’s now up to the Christian Brothers to compensate these men according to law for the serious psychological injuries that resulted from Standen’s abuse. “When a Brother who is in a position of trust and has more control over these boys than their parents, indecently and physically assaults them, he creates psychological effects that last a lifetime. “Those injuries will be with them until the day we die and we have to do what we can to help them.” Mr Parkinson was scathing of the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing program, which underpinned its response to abuse claims and compensation. He said it paid “10c in the dollar”, compared to damage payouts in civil law cases. “People should avoid it like the plague because it is designed to take advantage of people’s psychological damage,” Mr Parkinson said. “...We should never have a cheap approach to child abuse.” He told the Post his firm had issued 1000 writs for child abuse victims across Australia, against the Christian Brothers, Marist Brothers, De La Salle Brothers and others. Mr Parkinson praised the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for “shining a light into dark and dirty corners” and enabling victims to come forward.
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.