AUSTRALIA
9 News
More former residents of a central Queensland orphanage are expected to detail physical and sexual abuse by Catholic priests and nuns before a national inquiry.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard harrowing accounts on Tuesday of abuse from both a former resident of the Neerkol orphanage and a past employee, on the first day of a public hearing in Rockhampton.
One woman said she was sexually assaulted more than 100 times by a priest who is now deceased, while the other related stories of public floggings and humiliation.
On Wednesday, the commission is expected to hear from former Neerkol residents Diane Carpenter and David Owen who claim they were molested by two different priests at the orphanage.
Mr Owen, 76, is also expected to describe how he suffered beatings and floggings dispensed by the Sisters of Mercy, who ran the institution from 1885 to 1978.
Advocacy group Care Leavers Australia Network chief executive Leonie Sheedy said it was the first time the Sisters of Mercy had been under the spotlight.
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