AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
IAN KIRKWOOD
8 Sep 2016
THE Marist Brothers have formally apologised to the family of Andrew Nash, whose suicide in 1974 at the age of 13 has been one of the prime symbols of the pain and suffering caused by child sexual abuse, examined at the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic hearing of the Royal Commission.
In an emotional seventh and final day of the Catholic case study, the head of the Marist Brothers in Australia, Brother Peter Carroll, acknowledged that three of its predatory brothers – Dominic, Patrick and Romuald – had many more victims than the dozens who had come forward so far.
At the close of proceedings, the commission’s chairman, Justice Peter McClellan, said it was appropriate to acknowledge that the investigation was “founded upon the suffering of a great many people across many institutions throughout Australian society”.
Paying tribute to Gold Walkey-winning journalist Joanne McCarthy, Justice McClellan said it was important for the commission to come to Newcastle, where the suffering of “so many” was “first recognised by journalists and brought forward by the Newcastle Herald.
“Without those efforts it is unlikely that this Royal Commission would have taken place,” Justice McClellan said.
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