AUSTRALIA
The Observer
Austin King | 16th Apr 2015
JOSEPH Kiernan wasn’t supposed to live for long after he was born.
But he lived, only to endure years of alleged sickening physical and sexual abuse at Neerkol Orphanage.
Everyone on the first level of the Rockhampton Courthouse listened, transfixed by the shocking details of Joseph’s evidence to the Royal Commission panel, during yesterday’s hearing into the Neerkol institution.
The Royal Commission heard that Joseph, 54, was a very sick baby.
He told the commission his mother was told he wouldn’t live long and “she should just forget about me”.
The Department of Children’s Services placed Joseph at Neerkol Orphanage when he was seven years old.
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