Principal Who Failed to Report Francis "Romuald" Cable to Police Labelled "Coward and Liar"
By Christopher Knaus and Ian Kirkwood
Brother Romuald's case is closely linked to Canberra. He arrived in the ACT to teach at St Edmund's College from 1979 to 1989, after committing heinous and cruel acts of abuse against at least 19 victims in Marist Brothers schools in Sydney and Newcastle. He came to St Edmund's despite being the subject of complaints to two principals during his time with the Marist Brothers. One of those principals is Brother Christopher Wade, who also worked in the ACT at Marist College Canberra during the 1990s. Brother Christopher was in charge of Marist College Canberra during the final years of Brother Kostka Chute, who repeatedly abused boys between 1962 and 1993, but was not removed from teaching. The principal was questioned on Thursday morning about his failure to follow-up on a report about Brother Romuald in the 1970s at Marist Hamilton.
The royal commission has already heard that Brother Romuald had admitted child abuse to Brother Christopher, but the principal did not go to police or otherwise follow up on the complaint, something he now concedes was a failing. He said he was scared of Brother Romuald, who was known to be a bully, cruel, and violent. On Thursday, Brother Christopher was questioned about the suicide of a Hamilton student, Andrew Nash, 13, in October 1974. Mr Nash's family believe he was abused by Brother Romuald. The child's mother, Audrey Nash, has given evidence that Brother Christopher, Brother Romuald and others turned up at her house on the night of her son's suicide. Brother Romuald asked her if her son had left a suicide note or said anything to her beforehand. Brother Christopher told the royal commission he has no memory of that night. His lack of memory was the subject of intense questioning from solicitor Hilbert? Chiu?. "How many times do you recall being in a room in a house with a waiting mother whose son had just died?"?? Mr Chiu said. Brother Christopher replied: "??I don'??t recall ever having been in that set of circumstances." Mr Chiu said: "??Isn'??t it implausible, Brother, that you'??ve got absolutely no memory of visiting the Nash household on the evening of 8 October, 1974?"?? Brother Christopher replied: "I can'??t say whether it is implausible or not. All I can is that it'??s the truth." Mr Chiu accused the witness of lying, and later said: "You're pretending you don'??t remember that evening because you're a coward and you'??re a liar?" Brother Christopher replied: "That's not true." Evidence before the royal commission suggested Brother Wade had received multiple complaints about Brother Romuald. The principal was also taken to a letter from the then provincial, or leader, Brother Kieran to Brother Romuald in 1975. That letter read: "I was quite worried about you at Hamilton – it seemed to me that there were some of the preliminary signs of danger ahead." "It seems to me that the move to Dundas has helped you to reassess things in your own life and you have had the courage and openness to look at these squarely. Not that that solves everything (!) and I think you still have to be very careful of these tendencies but an honest, open look at them in the coming 15 months will be a wonderful preparation for Fribourg." The Marist Brothers have previously stated the first complaint made to the order was in 1993, after Brother Romuald had finished teaching in NSW and in Canberra. Complaints had been made about Cable much earlier, at a Marist Brothers school in Sydney, St Gabriel's in Pagewood. That complaint was made to the St Gabriel's principal in 1967. Nothing was done to remove Cable from the order, and he continued as a brother until 1978. He came to St Edmund's College in 1979, teaching for a decade as a lay teacher. The hearing continues on Thursday.
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