AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Friday 18 December 2015
Stephen Woods, a survivor of horrendous sexual abuse at the hands of three religious figures within the Diocese of Ballarat when he was a schoolboy, says his belief in truth and justice has “taken an utter beating” over the past fortnight.
Woods has sat and watched as most of the former priests working within the diocese between the 1970s and early 1990s told the royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse that they could not recall information about being informed of the abuse by victims, their concerned parents, or church staff.
They also gave evidence that they did not know the circumstances around known abusers being removed from parishes, often to other parishes where they continued to abuse.
Woods was sexually abused by the notorious pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, who has been convicted of 138 offences against children, as well as by the then principal of St Alipius Primary School, Robert Charles Best, and the religious teacher Brother Ted Dowlan. Two of his brothers were also abused. He says he carries the memories and consequences of what happened to him with him every day.
So it was painful for him to watch as the commission, armed with the testimony of dozens of survivors, and documentary evidence, questioned former diocese staff – only to have them so often respond with “I don’t recall”.
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.