AUSTRALIA
The Australian
DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN JANUARY 29, 2014
ORPHANED and abandoned children were subjected to public “punishment parades” and made to fight each other by Salvation Army officers who appeared to enjoy the spectacle, an inquiry has heard.
Giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, one former resident of the Riverview boys’ home near Brisbane described being publicly caned until “I felt blood running down the back of my legs”.
Such beatings were frequent and held in full sight of other boys and Salvation Army staff, the commission heard, with the boys told to strip from the waist down and bend over before being flogged.
The man, who cannot be named, also told the commission he was repeatedly forced to fight other boys bare-fisted “for their enjoyment … these officers they didn’t have much to do, they thought we’ll get the boys out and get them to beat the crap out of each other.”
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