AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM
Emily Bourke reported this story on Wednesday, January 29, 2014
MARK COLVIN: The Child Abuse Royal Commission has heard evidence about how a vicious bullying culture at Salvation Army boys’ homes was passed from adults to children: so younger children were assaulted by older boys as well as those in charge.
Several former residents have told how they were sexually assaulted but were too ashamed or too afraid to speak out because they weren’t believed – or worse, they were physically and sexually abused by Salvation Army officers.
The inquiry also heard that one boy was tethered to a brick, thrown into a pool and was then forced under the water by a Salvation Army captain. Another boy was caged in a cell on a veranda for weeks at a time.
And a warning: some of the detail and language contained in this story may be distressing.
Emily Bourke reports.
EMILY BOURKE: At the Salvation Army boys’ homes in Indooroopilly and Riverview, children were referred to by number, not name.
WALLY MCLEOD: My number was 14 at Indooroopilly, and 36 at Riverview.
EMILY BOURKE: Wally McLeod was among the boys whose clothes, shoes, and personal things were confiscated.
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