Sex Abuse Victim Felt like He Was 'Robbing the Church' When He Applied for Compensation

By Thomas Oriti
The 7 News
December 16, 2013

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/20353707/sex-abuse-victim-felt-like-he-was-robbing-the-church-when-he-applied-for-compensation/



A man who was sexually abused by a Marist Brother as a boy has told an inquiry he was made to feel like he was robbing the Church when he applied for compensation.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has entered its second week examining the Towards Healing process established by the Catholic Church.

The man, known only to the Commission as DG, says he was sexually abused in his family home by Brother Raymond Foster in 1970, when he was 13 years old.

DG was attending a Marist Brothers school in North Queensland at the time.

On one occasion in 1971, he says he was called to Foster's residence to carry books to a classroom, and was "wrestled" onto the man's lap. 

The abuse continued until he left the college in 1973, taking place in a school science lab and in the storeroom of the school canteen.

DG, now 55, says he told police in 1993.

"The hardest thing I had to do was walk through the door of a police station and stand at a desk with people around, and say why I was there," he said.

The man told the hearing the abuse affected his sexual abilities and led to the breakdown of his first marriage. He also felt alienated from his parents, engaged in substance abuse, and experienced a "destruction" of his religious beliefs.



'He chose suicide over facing me'

Foster was arrested in 1999, and on the day he was to be extradited from New South Wales to face the charges in Queensland, he committed suicide.

"I was really angry with Brother Foster for choosing suicide over facing me or the Queensland courts about the abuse he inflicted on me," DG told the hearing.

"I felt like he had chosen a path designed to free him from prosecution and inflict guilt upon me."

In the aftermath of Foster's death, DG says fellow Marist Brothers were quoted in newspapers as saying he had not committed suicide but had died of natural causes. They described him as a "wonderful man".

Foster left a suicide note for the provincial of the Marist Brothers, Brother Michael Hill.

"I bear no ill will against the person who had me charged, as he had every right to do so," it read.

The letter then asked for "forgiveness".

DG has told the hearing those sentiments were never conveyed to him.

"When I got the documents from the Commission, that was the first time that I had any acknowledgment that he had acknowledged the abuse in any way, shape or form," he said.



'Like I was there to rob the Catholic Church'

DG was later paid $36,500 under the Towards Healing program, which he entered into reluctantly, as he had asked for $120,000. 

He says he received legal advice that he could not pursue a civil claim against the Church, and Towards Healing was the "only process available". 

DG says he entered into the process optimistically after discovering that a former Marist Brother at the college would be taking part, as he remembered the man fondly.

At the 2002 mediation session in Brisbane, the Brother said he had interviewed Foster, but made no notes and could not recall the conversation.

DG recalled how he felt at the time.

"That's a blatant lie," he said.

"That you could go an interview a Brother of yours over a sexual abuse case and then say you can't remember a word that was spoken." 

He says a representative from Catholic Church Insurance also acted appallingly. 

"She made me feel like I was there to rob the Catholic Church," he said.

"The payment was made on the condition that DG not pursue any more action against Brother Foster. I found the whole thing pretty disgusting,

"I could never quite work out where the healing part came into it, because I certainly didn't feel healed by that process."

The hearing continues.