AUSTRALIA
The Age
April 7, 2014
Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age
Barry Wilson does not have long to tell his story.
Six weeks ago, he was told he was dying of liver cancer. In five days, he shed about 16 kilograms.
Barry, who is 59, is not expected to live beyond next week, let alone long enough to see the end of the royal commission into child sexual abuse.
So on Tuesday, the royal commission will send representatives to his hospital bed in the northern Victorian town Kerang to hear him testify about the sexual abuse he suffered.
Barry says the pain comes and goes. His brother Peter, who is a year older than Barry, asks him if he wants him to leave the room. Barry says he can stay.
Slowly, Barry begins revealing as many details as he can. When he was about eight or nine, he was abused while in the care of the Christian Brothers at St Augustine’s Orphanage in Highton, Geelong.
Barry and Peter were both sexually abused by the same people when they were children. But they chose never to speak about it to each other. They probably never will.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.