Ballarat Men Cite Long List of Church Child Abuse

ABC News
September 20, 2012

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-20/ballarat-men-detail-long-list-of-church-child-abuse/4271384

Thirty-two men from Ballarat, in central Victoria, will allege extensive physical and sexual abuse by members of the clergy in a submission to a state parliamentary inquiry.

The statement to the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of abuse by religious organisations details the experiences of 11 victims.

It has also been signed by 22 men who did not want to detail their abuse but who say the cases presented reflect their experiences.

The statement also names the alleged perpetrators of the crimes.

An author of the submission, Stephen Woods, says it lists an extraordinary number of physical attacks on children.

"Bashing with closed fists, bashing with hard objects including a wheel brace, punching with closed fists to many parts of the body, including the head, the neck, the buttocks in particular, putting the head in a toilet and forcing it to stay there until it could not flush any more, being hit on the head and face, on other parts of the body, with [a] ball-peen hammer and one particular victim had his facial bones fractured," he said.

Submissions to the inquiry close tomorrow.