Royal commission: Family fight Catholic Church after abuse by paedophile bus driver

By Nina Tietzel, Loukas Founten
ABC News
March 17, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-16/royal-commission-probes-handling-abuse-against-disabled-children/5324448

The case of a paedophile school bus driver who abused dozens of intellectually disabled boys will be the focus of this week's royal commission hearings in Adelaide.

Brian Perkins already had a criminal record for sexual abuse when he began working at St Ann's Special School.

He sexually abused up to 30 boys in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including Peter Mitchell's intellectually disabled son.

Mr Mitchell says the abuse of his son has scarred the whole family and he has called on the Catholic Church to end a 12-year civil case for compensation.

"I've had a heart attack since the allegations came out. My wife is on heavy doses of anti-depressants, as well as myself," Mr Mitchell told the ABC.

Since the incident, Mr Mitchell spends "every minute of the day" with his son.

"He won't let me out of his sight," he said.

"I have to sleep in his room with him, he has to have the door open. He's very paranoid."

Like the majority of Perkins' victims, he is unable to speak.

"I showed him a photo of the perpetrator and his initial response was he pushed it away and said 'bad man, bad man'," Mr Mitchell said.

"And that's about the limit of his communication. That's about all he can converse.

"We've had numerous counselling sessions with a counsellor and she's been able to bring out his thoughts in pictures and sign language.

"We've communicated a lot with him in sign language as well."

Perkins was arrested in 2001 and sentenced to 10 years in jail where he died in 2009.

Disability rights advocates hope this week's public hearing in Adelaide for the royal commission into child sexual abuse will help highlight the extent of violence perpetrated against people with disabilities.

The commission will examine how Perkins came to be in employment at the Catholic special needs school in view of his criminal history, and look at how the abuse was dealt with by school officials, the Catholic Church and South Australia Police.

Peter Humphries is seeking damages for Mr Mitchell and a number of other families in the form of a civil claim against the Catholic Church.

He says the main purpose of the desired compensation is to help with future care for the victims.

"Some of them, as a result of the abuse, are now not suitable candidates for hostel accommodation. Their behaviour is so bad that hostels won't keep them, so that puts them in a very difficult position," Mr Humphries said.

"The parents are shouldering that burden of pretty much one-on-one care, and once their parents are no longer able to do that there'll be a need to substitute that with some other care model - and one-on-one care is horrendously expensive."

Mr Humphries says the civil case has been dragging on for years.

"The Church is good at saying they're passionate about it and they want justice for the victims but they're not acting on it," he said.

"We've been fighting this case for 12 years in a legal sense and all we've got from the Church is delays, requests for useless information that has got nothing to do with the case."

The Catholic Church recently released a statement on the St Ann's matter:

The Archdiocese of Adelaide rejects the allegations made recently about the St Ann's case and the litigation related to it.

Archbishop Philip Wilson has, from the outset, shown the utmost concern and compassion for the victims of Brian Perkins and their families. As soon as he learned about the shocking reality of this case, he apologised to the victims and their families and he put in place pastoral and counselling support for anyone who needed it.

In 2003 the Archbishop also paid $2.25 million in unconditional ex-gratia payments to families in an effort to help support them through this most difficult matter. He continued over extended periods to offer counselling and pastoral support for whoever required such assistance.

The Archbishop also encouraged families to consult with their lawyers to ensure that their rights were fully protected. A minority of families have since decided to issue proceedings. Those proceedings are in the control of the Courts, not the Archbishop.

Archbishop Wilson is aware that legal proceedings can and often do take a long time to progress through the Courts and while that is a matter of regret, he has not caused any delay in their progress.

Like everyone involved in this matter, the Archbishop was horrified to learn of the abuse perpetrated in this case and he repeats his sincere sorrow and regret that it ever occurred. He is hopeful that the Court actions will be resolved as quickly and smoothly as possible.

- Statement from Adelaide Archdiocese on St Ann's Matter, February 18, 2014.

Mr Mitchell has started a petition calling on the Catholic Church to settle the civil case - he says he has gathered 88,000 signatures.

He and other parents are hoping the royal commission will highlight their plight.

"Us parents are under so much stress over this case we just want it to end," he said.

Mr Mitchell believes his son was targeted specifically because of his inability to communicate verbally - a theory backed by South Australian MP Kelly Vincent.

"If people communicate in an alternative method to verbalising for example, there's very little support for them to give evidence in a court and of course that's going to make people wanting to perpetrate this violence think that they're more likely to get away with it," Ms Vincent said.

A 2012 report by the World Health Organisation examining violence against adults and children with disabilities found that children with disabilities are 3.6 times more likely to become victims of physical violence than non-disabled children, and 2.9 times more likely to experience sexual violence.

Children with mental or intellectual impairment were found to be the most vulnerable; they are 4.6 times more at risk of sexual abuse.

Ms Vincent, from the Dignity for Disability party, says people with intellectual disabilities are also frequently seen as unreliable witnesses by the courts.

"If they're unable to remember dates or times or locations in which the alleged abuse occurred they're often seen as unreliable," she said.

"And if they're unable to verbalise, they're unable to give evidence - often because there's no professional trust and support available to facilitate that conversation."

Ms Vincent says professional communications assistants should be allowed in court and police interviews in the same way interpreters are allowed for people speaking a language other than English, or using sign language.