AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites
By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 13 January 2014)
After beginning in the early 1970s as a Christian Brother, Brian Dennis Cairns worked as a lay teacher (“Mister” Cairns) in Catholic schools in Queensland. In 1985 he was jailed for sex-crimes against boys. Since then, more of his former male pupils have contacted Broken Rites, and therefore Broken Rites arranged for each of these victims to have a private chat with detectives in the Queensland Police. Brian Cairns pleaded guilty regarding all these additional victims and on 13 January 2014 (aged 72) he was jailed again.
Broken Rites research
In the early 1970s, Brother Brian Cairns taught primary students at Catholic schools in Queensland, including:
St Laurence’s College, which was a boys-only school, in South Brisbane; and
St Columban’s College, which was a boys-only school, in Albion, Brisbane.
About the end of 1974, Brother Cairns left his religiious order and became a lay teacher.
He then worked (as Mister Cairns) at:
Iona College (at Lindum, Brisbane) until 1977 (this was a boys-only school, for Year 5 upwards, conducted by the Oblate Fathers); and
St John Vianney parish primary school (at Manly, Brisbane), from 1978 until the early 1980s. Here he was the principal. This school was for boys and girls for Years 1 to 7.
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.