Abuse Royal Commission: Victim Details Years of Abuse by 'Angry, Cruel' Marist Brothers

By Thomas Oriti
The ABC News
December 18, 2013

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-18/abuse-victim-details-years-of-abuse-by-marist-brothers/5163930

[with audio]

A man has detailed six years of abuse at the hands of three Marist Brothers while he was a child in northern Queensland, saying they had more control over him than his parents.

The man known only as DK has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse he was abused by the Marist Brothers as a boarder at Saint Augustine's College in Cairns, between 1976 and 1981.

DK said when he was 11, a man known as Brother Leonidas watched him showering daily.

He said the brother removed curtains from the showers so the boys had no privacy.

DK said when he turned 12 in 1976, he injured his foot and went to the after-hours infirmary.

A Marist Brother, who has not been named, sexually abused the victim, leaving him "completely and utterly confused". 

DK turned to Brother Ross Francis Murrin for help. He described Murrin as a "good friend" with whom he shared a love of music.

DK described the relationship as positive, and a "refuge" from his previous sexual abuse.

"I felt that music was my protection," he said.

DK said in 1981, he was sexually abused by Murrin while the brother appeared to be drunk.

"We were such good friends and he betrayed me," DK told the hearing.

DK said his grade 10 dorm master, Brother Andrew Moraghan, had found him in Murrin's dorm and was angry, but Murrin would always invite him back.

He said he is convinced Brother Moraghan and the college principal, Brother Gerald Burns, knew about Murrin's behaviour. 

The man recalled being flogged and excluded from school events while the abuse was taking place. 

In 2008 and 2010, Murrin pleaded guilty to child sexual assault in relation to incidents at two Sydney schools. He is now in jail, and DK told the hearing he forgives him. 

DK is now 49 working as an accountant. He has three children and his wife is pregnant with a fourth child.

He said when his first child was born in 2009 he suffered a meltdown, which he was told is normal for people abused as children. 

The man detailed the impact of the abuse, saying he suffers from insomnia and depression, and compensates by overeating.

He has put on 40 kilograms since 2009.



Towards Healing 'more like Towards Hurting'

DK first heard about Towards Healing when he approached the Marist Brothers in 2009.

He was given a phone number but was greeted with a voicemail message. He did not persevere for several months.

In early 2010, DK rang the head office of the Marist Brothers and was put through to the director of professional standards for the order at the time, Brother Alexis Turton. 

Brother Turton has previously given evidence at the inquiry into victim DG, who was abused by Brother Raymond Foster at a North Queensland college in the early 1970s.

When asked whether there was a "significant problem" within the Marist Brothers, Brother Turton agreed.

DK said when the mediation session took place in Brisbane on March 30, 2010, he wanted answers from three of the Marist Brothers who he says knew about the behaviour.

Instead, he said he was yelled at by one of the men and told he was "wasting time".

"I don't call it Towards Healing, I call it Towards Hurting," he said.

He labelled Towards Healing "one of the biggest scars" of his life, saying the men at the college decades earlier inflicted pain on him all over again.

"There was physical abuse, and there was control and emotional abuse by angry, cruel men who ruled my life and had more control over me than my parents," he said.

At the beginning of the session he said the facilitator, Michael Salmon, told him sexual abuse was "rare" in the Catholic Church.

DK was paid $88,000 out of the Towards Healing process and received a written apology, but he said much of the investigation took place without engagement or communication with him.

He said he also agreed to Mr Salmon being appointed as a facilitator in his case when he was told the man was a lawyer and "independent".

DK told the inquiry he only later discovered Mr Salmon was employed by the church.

He has denied being told about Mr Salmon in a phone call more than a month before the mediation session, on February 22 2010.

The hearing continues.