Sexual Abuse Victim Welcomed Cancer Diagnosis, Hearing Told

By Paul Bibby
The Court Reporter
November 18, 2013

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sexual-abuse-victim-welcomed-cancer-diagnosis-hearing-told-20131118-2xqc9.html

So devastating was the physical and sexual abuse suffered by a young boy at an Anglican Church-run children's home in northern NSW that, years later, he welcomed a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer because it meant "the pain will stop", the royal commission has heard.

And yet when this victim and scores of others launched a class action against the church in the early 2000s, the church allegedly did "everything in its power" to avoid taking responsibility for the abuse inflicted by its clergy, often acting in its name.

"The Anglican Church did everything in its power to be a hindrance in this case," the man, referred to as "CK" said during a gut-wrenching 90 minutes of evidence before the commission on Monday.

"It deliberately dragged the case out, knowing that the impact on us was a beneficial outcome for the church.

"The pain doesn't go away. It holds you until all you hope for is death."

In its third set of public hearings in Sydney, the commission is focusing on the North Coast Children's Home at Lismore as a way of examining the Anglican Church's responses to allegations of child sexual abuse by its clergy and other church employees.

Between the 1940s and the 1980s it is alleged that at least 200 children living at the home, in the diocese of Grafton , were sexually or physically abused.

In his opening address to the commission, counsel assisting, Simeon Beckett, SC, said the hearings would investigate whether the Grafton Diocese followed appropriate policies and procedures with respect to a group of claims made by victims.

He said that, after a long, protracted class action, a settlement was reached in 2007, in which most of the claimants received just $11,000 each after paying their legal costs.

"The royal commission will also hear from further claimants who say they came forward to the Bishop to tell them of the sexual abuse ... [but] were told that their claims for compensation had been denied," Mr Beckett said.

He said the commission would also examine whether police were told about abuse of children by the hierarchy of the church when it first came to light, or whether the church followed its own internal procedures.

After the opening, CK, spoke of the horrific abuse meted out to him and other children at the Lismore home.

"Coming here today is a bitter sweet situation," he said.

"Bitter because I have to reveal publicly for the first time the things and the events that went on at the children's home.

"Sweet because it will open everything up and for the people who committed suicide.

"A doctor examined me a few years ago and said 'Ive got some bad news for you - you've got pancreatic cancer, how do you feel?'

"What I didn't say was what I really thought: 'That's the best news I've ever heard in my life, the pain will stop.' "

The hearing continues.