AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM
[with audio]
MARK COLVIN: Victoria’s inquiry into child abuse has been told that Cardinal George Pell showed a sociopathic lack of empathy for a family whose two daughters were raped by a Catholic priest.
Today victims of child abuse by religious organisations gave evidence to the inquiry. They included Chrissie and Anthony Foster, whose two daughters were assaulted in the 1990s by a priest at their primary school in Melbourne’s south east.
Emma Foster eventually committed suicide. Her sister Katie was seriously disabled when she was struck by a car after binge drinking.
The fallout happened when George Pell headed the Catholic Church in Melbourne.
Alison Caldwell reports.
ALISON CALDWELL: After 16 years, Chrissie and Anthony Foster are exhausted but still very angry with the way the Catholic Church handled their daughters’ allegations of abuse at the hands of their parish priest, Father Kevin O’Donnell, in the 1990s.
ANTHONY FOSTER: O’Donnell left few physical scars, instead he left children emotionally tortured and spiritually ruined. O’Donnell and the church stole a part of their souls.
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