A New Zealander Says a St John of God Catholic Brother, Who Sexually Abused Him When He Was Six, Says a 33year Australian Jail Term Is Not Long Enough., NZCity, February 20, 2018

A New Zealander Says a St John of God Catholic Brother, Who Sexually Abused Him When He Was Six, Says a 33-year Australian Jail Term Is Not Long Enough.

NZCity
February 20, 2018

http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=264295&cat=984&fm=newsmain%2Cnarts

A New Zealand man who had his childhood "stolen" from him by a St John of God Catholic brother says a 33-year jail term for his sexual abuser is not enough.

The jail term was handed to convicted sex offender Bernard McGrath, 70, in a Sydney court last week after he subjected boys at Kendall Grange boys' home in New South Wales to years of sexual assaults in the 1980s.

Victims and their families cheered the sentence in relief, Australian media reports.

But for Darryl Smith, 54, the jail term is not enough.

McGrath sexually abused him at New Zealand's Marylands school for boys in Christchurch when he was six-years-old.

"I got my life totally stolen from me. I had no childhood because of this monster, I lost everything," he told RNZ.

Despite allegations of McGrath's abuse against Christchurch boys being known to St John, the order transferred him to Kendall Grange in New South Wales and made him the home's headmaster.

McGrath was later convicted of abusing at least nine boys at Marylands and served two prison sentences in New Zealand.

McGrath, a New Zealand citizen, in late 2014 lost a two-year battle against extradition to Australia, where he faced more than 250 charges.

In last week's sentencing, Judge Sarah Huggett said St John of God knew of McGrath's offending and attempted to treat him in New Zealand and at a Catholic facility in the US in 1993.

McGrath must serve at least 21 years in jail and will be 88 before he is eligible for release.

But Mr Smith remains devastated at how long it's taken for the law to catch up with McGrath.

"As a survivor of this monster's abuse, life is not long enough for him. My message to the Australian government is to lock him away, lock him away and just throw away the key," he said.

"Don't even feed the monster, give him nothing."