Abuser Offers Guilty Plea As Apology
By Clare Quirk
VICTIMS of paedophile and former religious brother Edward Mamo wept in a Warrnambool court yesterday as they recalled the horror of his crimes. The men, who were boys when the offences occurred, told of being taken into a dark basement at Monivae College in Hamilton and being indecently assaulted by Mamo, now 68, from 1976 to 1980. Mamo, now of Sydney, pleaded guilty in the County Court to seven charges of unlawful and indecent assault of a child under the age of 16 on Monday. He sat emotionless throughout the plea hearing. Mamo was aged between 31 and 35 when the incidents took place and was a brother of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Australia. Advertisement At the time, Mamo undertook laundry duties, ground works, was bus driver and coached hockey at the college. The court heard of one incident when Mamo had ordered one victim, who was 11 at the time, to the laundry room for punishment and instructed him to drop his shorts and underpants and to bend over an old tea chest in the middle of the room. As the boy did so Mamo produced a thick leather strap and hit the boy 10 to 12 times. Prosecutor Justin Lewis said on another occasion Mamo was strapping the same victim over the tea chest and the boy turned to see Mamo had one of his hands down the front of his pants. Mamo saw the boy looking and yelled at him to face the front. In victim impact statements read to the court the men told of their state of fear, humiliation and disbelief that someone wanted to perform these acts with them. One man said he had lost trust in all human beings and Mamo's behaviour cost him his belief in the Catholic God. Defence counsel Peta Murphy said Mamo offered his plea of guilty to the victims as an apology for the hurt they had experienced and the harm that had occurred. Judge Julian Leckie said he expected to sentence Mamo later this week.
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