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Marist Brothers Hamilton abusing boys in the 1970s: Royal Commission
By Ian Kirkwood
A BROTHER of a boy who hung himself at the age of 13 has given a bleak account of physical and sexual abuse at Marist Brothers Hamilton in the 1970s. CQT said he started at Sacred Heart Primary School in 1962 and went to Marist Brothers, Hamilton, from 1969. He had been an altar boy from the age of 10 in 1967. He said some of the Sisters at the Sacred Heart were commonly referred to as the sisters without mercy, who would hit with their fists, with rulers and with canes. “I would describe several of the brothers and lay teachers at the school as vicious and sadistic thugs,” he said. He described one teacher, Brother Cassian, kicking a stray cat so hard that it died. “I saw him hold kids up, punch them and let them drop to the floor,” CQT said. “He did it to me multiple times and left bruises.” He said he showed his mother the bruises in first form high school, saying “See how this guy is punching us?” “And she would have a good cry but not doing anything,” he said. He said he began to drink and smoke to cope with the abuse and was stealing to get money for both substances, leading the police to come to the school to interview him and some of the other boys. He said he did not hear the term “paedophile” until the mid-1990s but by the time he was in year 9 he had heard about “Pat the poof”. He told how Brother Patrick would consistently stick his hands down people’s pants. Boys used to talk about their worst sexual assaults. “People were really nervous about being in classes with Brother Patrick. I saw him assault boys in the classroom.” He talked about one boy in year 10 who was repeatedly targeted by Brother Patrick “had a tragic life and died quite young”. He recalled Brother Romuald come to the school in 1971. He was dominant and aggressive and he heard rumours about groping boys but he avoided him and did not witness him groping anyone. He then told how Brother Dominic as “not so violent” but “always touching us” and “slimy”. He said Brother Dominic first assaulted him within a fortnight of arriving and it happened about once a month from then on. He would walk around the classroom, putting his hand on a boy’s neck and then working his way down into their pants. He told his mother repeatedly about the abuse happening to him and others and said her usual reaction was to cry about it and to tell him it was probably his own fault, and then to lock herself in her room and pray. He eventually convinced his mother to let him move to Pius X, which was a less violent school than Hamilton Marist. He did not report the abuse at the time because every student seemed to turn a blind eye and there was no other option. He said Andrew started at the school and in form one was in public speaking and played rugby and sang and loved being an altar boy with his best friend CNW. They were Father Cahill’s favourite altar boys. In 1974 Andew was in year 8. In October 1974 Andrew hung himself by the hook on his bedroom door with his dressing gown cord. His sister found him and his mother ran into the street calling someone to call an ambulance and a priest. Father Cahill was on holidays so Father Bill Burston arrived along with Father Tom Brennan, Brother Romuald, Brother Christopher and Brother John O’Brien also came over, ignored me and talking to each other and to his mother. Brother Romuald asked if he left a note or said anything, and his mother said no. He said his parents were so distraught that he had to go to the morgue. He was two weeks out from the HSC and felt completely ignored by the brothers. He met Vince Ryan in about 1976 when he was 19 when Father Ryan became best friends with his mother. He said in 20 years he never heard him “say or do anything crass”. He said he went to Charlestown police in 2008 to talk about his brother’s death and to talk about the abuse committed by brothers Dominic, Romuald and Patrick, but they said they had pretty full books and “didn’t follow up with me”. He spoke to CNR after seeing a Newcastle Herald article about Brother Romuald and CNR told him he had been assaulted by Romuald. “I believe that [my brother] Andrew was sexually assaulted at Marist Brothers Hamilton and that he took his own life because of the abuse.” He said he believed brothers Romuald and Christopher went to their house that night to see if there was a note because they didn’t seem to be there to provide any support to the family. He spoke about fathers Burston, Cahill and Corrigan talking about Andew’s death as an accident. “I do not believe this to be true and I consider it a complete lie,” CQT. He said the Marist Brothers abuse tore his family apart and destroyed his relationship with his parents. It caused a rift that was unhealed with his father when he died and while he had repaired things with his mother nothing could replace the 40 missing years. He said he struggled with authority and recounted how some of his former class mates had “just kept going with alcohol, drugs and crime”. He had lost his faith and could not trust any Marist brother, Catholic priest or sister of mercy and was also unhappy with lay Catholic staff who he believed had not educated themselves about the past. He spoke about a number of suicides including his brother’s and a friends who killed himself this year. Another friend who was a pall bearer of his brother’s died a tragic death in 1976. “It feels like wave after wave of kids dying from the 1970s until now,” CQT said. He said he contacted Father Bill Wright about the abuse his mother had copped after speaking about Andrew’s death but he never made contact even though his office was 500 metres away from his office. In an article in the Catholic magazine Aurora he described his mother and her friends as “the usual suspects”. He praised Maureen O’Hearn from Zimmerman Services but criticised Sean Tynan as overly supportive of the priests. He called on the Marist Brothers to appoint their own representatives to this area and to “take responsibility for what has happened”. CQT was then questioned by Mr McMahon for Father Bill Burston, and confirmed that Father Burston arrived first followed by fathers Brennan and Hefferty and that brothers Romuald, Christopher and O’Brien arrived later. Asked by Mr McMahon if he was mistaken as to how long Father Burston was there, CQT said: “Mate, you weren’t there. I was there.” He was applauded from the audience after this answer, and again when he was excused from further evidence, shortly after. Earlier, Brother Alexis Turton continued giving his evidence, and was taken to a letter he wrote to Carroll & O’Dea, solicitors for the Marist Brothers, saying he had “no detail or confirmation, but I have reason to believe that he [Brother Romuald] may be accused of indecent conduct with minors during his time as a teacher and a brother”. Despite this, Brother Alexis insisted he had no intimation of Brother Romuald indecently assaulting people. Answering Hilbert Chiu, representing some of the Marist Brothers’ victims, he said: “I can’t say any more than I’ve already said. I saw this letter in the bundle, I was surprised to see it, in the sense that I had forgotten about it, but I don’t have any other information at all, I’m afraid.” Mr Chiu noted that Brother Alexis had said in his letter that “I am taking the precaution of notifying you and would appreciate it if you would notify the Catholic Church insurances”. Asked if he took the precaution to see whether Brother Romuald – whose name was Atholl Cable – was still teaching, he said: “No. I don’t recall that.” Questioned by Mr Brady for Brother Christopher, Brother Alexis was asked about the size of Marist Brothers Hamilton, he said there were between 800 and 1000 students at the school when he was principal. There were about 70 to 80 teachers and that 16 to 18 of those were Marist Brothers. He said he heard no rumours, as principal in the late 1970s, of inappropriate behaviour by Brother Patrick, nor had he heard him described as “Pat the poof”. Asked if he used the cane when he was principal at Hamilton, Brother Alexis paused noticeably before saying: “At Hamilton, if I did, it was very occasional.” He said the cane was used for serious offences such as stealing and bullying, and there was no doubt it was used inappropriately at Marist Brothers Hamilton. Asked about Catholic Church Insurances, Brother Patrick said it started in the 1950s and was run in the normal way. The chairman of the commission, Justice Peter McClellan asked if “surely” the Marist Brothers would have been to tell their insurers of potential claims as they happened, rather than on an annual basis. Brother Alexis finished his evidence at 2.27pm.
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