AUSTRALIA
Crikey
by Cathy Alexander
Australia
They say they were sexually abused at boys’ homes run by the Salvation Army. And when they tried to run away, they were beaten or locked in cages on a veranda for up to nine days. When they were let out, some say they were raped again.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has today heard harrowing stories of the alleged victims of five men who worked for the Salvation Army. The commission is looking into what happened at four notorious boys’ homes in New South Wales and Queensland, focusing on the 1950s to the 1970s.
Simeon Beckett, counsel assisting the royal commission, started today’s hearing by running through some allegations of sexual abuse, which were intertwined with horrific allegations of violent punishments at the hands of Salvos’ staff.
Beckett said the five alleged perpetrators had worked together or succeeded each other in their posts; most were moved between the four boys’ homes. He said key questions for the commission included whether the homes’ managers had sought to frustrate claims of sexual abuse or impede investigations; whether the alleged perpetrators were transferred to new homes once allegations had been made; and whether the Salvos took claims of sexual abuse seriously.
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