Catholic Brothers Using 'Pell Defence' in Damages Claim Fight

By Candace Sutton
Herald Sun
May 29, 2013

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/catholic-school-abusers-using-pell-defence-to-avoid-payout/story-fni0xqrb-1226652877012

TWO days after Sydney Archbishop Cardinal Pell apologised for decades of child sex abuse but said the Church had changed, a court has heard a Catholic order is fighting a court case to avoid paying sex abuse victims.

Senior Sydney barrister, Tony Bartley, SC, told the NSW Supreme Court this morning that the Patrician Brothers order at Granville was using "a variant" of the defence George Pell had used when an alleged victim of sex abuse by the Catholic Church claimed senior officials were liable.

Mr Bartley was appearing for two defendants, known only as PAO and PMA, who are suing for damages for their abuse at a Patrician brothers school between 1974 and 1977.

Brother Thomas William Grealy was convicted in 1997 of molestation and buggery of boys at the school and spent four years in jail for the rape and indecent assault of two boys when he was principal.

Brother Augustine, as Grealy was then known, would cover the statue of the Virgin Mary in his office with a coat before abusing the boys in his care.