Salvation Army Major "Punched 4yo Boys in the Face" at Alkira Boys" Home, Royal Commission Hears

By Thomas Oriti
ABC News
January 28, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-29/salvation-army-major-punched-4yo-boys-in-the-face/5224908

The royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard a Salvation Army officer working at a children's home punched boys as young as four in the face.

Wally McLeod has told the commission about his time at the Alkira Salvation Army Home for Boys at Indooroopilly in Queensland.

The facility is one of four operated by the Salvation Army that is being examined by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Over the next two weeks, the commission will also focus on cases at the Riverview Training Farm in Queensland, the Bexley Boys Home in Sydney and the Gill Memorial Home at Goulburn in southern New South Wales.

Mr McLeod was 12 when he was taken to the Indooroopilly home in 1960.

He was taken to the home after his mother died in a car accident and his father was murdered by a neighbour over a dispute involving rental payments.

Much of his evidence focussed on the actions of Major Victor Bennett.

Mr McLeod told the commission Major Bennett would turn boys against each other.

"He'd make us punch each other until one of us got mad and really fight," he said.

"I saw him go up to very little boys, as young as four years, and grab them by the shirt.

"Then he'd get his fist and he'd punch them, several times.

"Under the chin, in the face, anywhere he could hit."

The hearing was also told Major Bennett would force boys to pull down their pants and bend over so he could hit them with a cane that was split at the end.

"The split would then pinch your skin, which would result in blood blisters," Mr McLeod told the inquiry.

Mr McLeod told the commission boys were punished for not eating their food or talking in the corridors, despite the fact there were never clear instructions.

If the boys reported the abuse, Mr McLeod said they were publicly flogged or locked in cages outside for days.

Major Bennett is also accused of sexually assaulting boys at the Indooroopilly and Riverview homes in the 1960s and 1970s.

Some victims of the officer have been paid up to $80,000 in compensation by the charity.

The commission says there is no documentation to indicate that Major Bennett was ever disciplined by the Salvation Army for any acts of child sexual abuse.

Major Bennett was not reported to relevant government departments and was never the subject of any criminal charges for child sexual abuse.

He died a number of years ago.

The inquiry continues.