NEW ZEALAND
Stuff
02 December 2005
By ANNA WALLIS and NZPA
A catholic order is taking the blame for the sexual abuse of students in its care at the Feilding boarding school it founded.
A spokesman for the Society of Mary (Marist) Phil Cody said members "feel shame, sorrow and sadness" after the conviction yesterday of a former teacher at Hato Paora College for the sexual assault of five boys.
John Louis Stevenson, 66, of Wellington, admitted abusing the boys, aged between 14 and 16, between 1976 and 1981 at Hato Paora where he was known as Brother Bernard.