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Marist Brother Abused Boys in Dorm: Court

By Toby Mann
news.com.au
November 23, 2016

http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/marist-brother-abused-boys-in-dorm-court/news-story/ccbd6c856ad81dd65989d38a753e83ac

A former Marist Brother accused of sexually abusing young boys at Catholic boarding schools was a strict disciplinarian who used violence on his alleged victims, a court has heard.

Brett O'Connor was a dormitory master at a school on Sydney's North Shore when he allegedly began indecently assaulting a 12-year-old boy under his charge and left his alleged victim frozen in fear in his bed, Sydney's District Court heard on Wednesday.

He has pleaded not guilty to 18 charges relating to the alleged abuse of three victims at two schools in the late 1980s, crown prosecutor David Patch said.

"The accused was a very strict disciplinarian and sometimes used violence on the boys," Mr Patch said.

One alleged victim was hit with a cricket bat, the court heard.

O'Connor, who had in 1980 graduated from one of the schools at which he allegedly abused boarders, began molesting his first alleged victim in the first term in 1987.

As a dormitory master responsible for about 33 boys, he was provided with a private room at the school.

In the first assault for which he has been brought to trial, O'Connor is accused of rubbing the genitals of the Year 7 boy.

He later tried to rape the boy, Mr Patch said.

The attempted rape allegedly happened after boy had been caught talking in the dormitory, early in the morning before communicating was permitted, the court heard.

"What are we going to do with you," O'Connor asked the boy, having threatened to cancel a weekend trip the boy had planned with his parents.

The alleged victim was ordered by his alleged abuser, known to students as Brother Brett, to bend over his desk and was subsequently assaulted, the court heard.

At the start of term two, the boy ran away to a family friend's home but was soon collected by O'Connor, said Mr Patch.

During the drive back to school, he rubbed the boy's groin and genitals several times, the jury heard.

When that boy's behaviour changed, O'Connor began preying on the boy who slept in the bed next to his first alleged victim.

The second victim, also aged about 12, had gone to O'Connor seeking help with a rash on his groin.

Mr Patch said O'Connor gave the boy Canasten cream.

But when the rash spread to the boy's genitals, O'Connor suggested "you are the reason it's worse," Mr Patch said.

O'Connor then told the boy he would apply the cream.

"By the way, I'm trained as a nurse," O'Connor told his alleged victim, according to Mr Patch.

Two years later O'Connor allegedly groomed another 12-year-old boy while dormitory master at another school.

O'Connor denies all allegations of sexual abuse.

The trial is expected to run for about two weeks before Judge Dina Yehia.

 

 

 

 

 




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