AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net
The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began its fifth “case study” today, into four Salvation Army Boys’ Homes – Riverview, Bexley, Gill, and Alkira. The witness list was only released minutes before the hearing was due to begin, contrary to previous practice.
The hearing is subject to several “Not to be Published” orders, and the web-cast is being shut down at times for what are described as “privacy reasons”. The author is not on the witness list (see previous postings).
The focus will be on five Salvation Army officers who abused the boys. These are Lawrence Wilson, Russell Walker, Victor Bennett, John McIver, and Donald Shultz. Wilson, who worked at all four Homes, is regarded, according to the commission, as the worst offender. The abuses were described as “being at the extreme end of the scale”. He died in 2008.
[First person comment: The author was abused by both Wilson and Bennett.]
Of the 13 victim witnesses listed to appear, all but two will be referred to by pseudonyms. One who is named is Wally McLeod which encourages the author (see previous posting: “Why Wally Should Be Heard”). Of these 13 men, only one who was in the author’s old Home, “Alkira”, otherwise known as the Indooroopilly Salvation Army Home for Boys, is listed to appear.
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