Boy Lived in Fear of Sexual Abuse from Priest at West Australia Boys" Home, Inquiry Hears

TVNZ
March 1, 2017

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/boy-lived-in-fear-sexual-abuse-priest-west-australia-boys-home-inquiry-hears

A child sex abuse survivor has told a British inquiry "it was a feast of kids at an orphanage" for Christian Brothers pedophiles in Western Australia in the 1950s.

The 72-year-old told the child sex abuse inquiry in London overnight he had been in orphanages in the UK since he was a baby before being shipped to WA in 1953 at the age of eight as a child migrant.

The witness, now living in Perth and only referred to as A4 to protect his identity, said he was sent to the boys' home at Castledare where he was sexually abused by Brother Lawrence Murphy.

He said Murphy woke him up one night in the dormitory to say he must go to the toilet, but instead led him to his bedroom.

Holding back tears he told the inquiry Murphy had told him to take off his pyjamas.

"He got me to play with him and he started to play with me," he said.

"He wanted me to give him oral sex and he made me do it."

A4 said from then on he would freeze in his dorm bed at the sound of footsteps until they passed, feeling sorry for any other boy selected by the brother that night.

He said he could not tell anyone about the abuse as he knew he would just get a belting for lying.

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A4 said he now knew the Christian Brothers were shielding a paedophile ring in WA.

"It was a feast of kids at an orphanage, they had their own little pool, little school of boys that they could choose from."

A4 said he finally broke his silence about the abuse he suffered when he saw Murphy deny any wrongdoing on a 60 Minutes report about the Christian Brothers in 1993.

Murphy was arrested in 1997 on child sex abuse charges but died aged 80 before a trial could be held.

Man still has nightmares years later after abuse

Former child migrant Oliver Cosgrove, who was sent to Australia in 1953 at the age of four, told the inquiry he too was sexually abused at Castledare.

The 67-year-old, also from Perth, said the choirmaster had got into his bed and fondled him and later forced him to perform oral sex on him in the dining room.

Mr Cosgrove, who has waived his right to anonymity, told the inquiry he still had nightmares and had been through years of psychiatric treatment.

The witnesses also told of the constant canings and strappings they received as well as beatings at the hands of "sadistic" brothers at Castledare and Clontarf Boys Town in Perth where they were later sent.

They told of the poor schooling they received and the hard barefoot labour they had to perform at the homes, including clearing trees, digging a swimming pool and building a handball court.

Both witnesses said they had been told they were orphans but they subsequently learned their mothers had been alive all along, though by the time they traced them they were dead.

Mr Cosgrove learned his father had been a priest in Ireland and his mother had been his housekeeper.

The inquiry, being held in London, will hear from a number of former child migrants sent from the UK to Commonwealth countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Zimbabwe who allege they suffered sexual abuse.