Salvation Army Officer Abused Girl Then Married Mother, Royal Commision Told

By Paul Bibby
Sydney Morning Herald
March 28, 2014

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/salvation-army-officer-abused-girl-then-married-mother-royal-commision-told-20140328-35obl.html

Justice Peter McClellan conducts the Royal Commission proceedings in Sydney. Photo: Supplied

A woman who was repeatedly sexually abused by a Salvation Army officer from the age of four later watched in horror as her mother married the man, the Royal Commission has heard.

The abuse survivor's mother then kicked her out of the family home, claiming the allegations against her new husband were lies.

The woman, known as JD, said she was first molested by the officer at the age of four, not long after she was formally brought into the Salvation Army through a "dedication ceremony".

About 14 years later, after suffering more abuse at the officer's hands, JD learned the man was about to become her stepfather.

"I remember around Christmas my mother told me that she was going to marry him," the woman, now 40, told the Commission.

"By that time there were already rumours that [he] had been abusing children. I had told my mum that [he] was a monster and a creep and that she should not marry him because the rumours were true.

"Mum didn't believe me and accused me of lying because 'I didn't want a new daddy'."

JD told the Commission she and another girl eventually went to the the commander of the Salvation Army's south-east Queensland division, Colonel Stan Everitt, and complained about the officer who had abused them.

She said Colonel Everitt appeared not to believe them, saying: "Is this something you've made up?"

She says he told them not to tell the police because he would "handle it".

JD said her mother kicked her out of her home after she spoke to Colonel Everitt.

"My siblings are still not allowed to mention my name," she said. "I'm dead to them."

No action was taken against the abusing officer until many years later, when the women went to the police. He was eventually convicted of child sex offences.

"I was just a little girl going to church and a predator got to me," JD said.

"When people come forward they should be believed and they should be helped."

Earlier in the hearing, Cherryl Eldridge, a woman who was physically and psychological abused at the Salvation Army's Horton House home in Queensland, gave evidence of her treatment at the hands of a matron there.

"I wet the bed for the first two years at the home and when I told the matron, she would rub my face in the sheets," Ms Eldridge said.

"After a while, I stopped reporting my bed-wetting and instead slept in wet, smelly sheets."

After a number of years of negotiation, Ms Eldridge was offered $40,000 compensation on the condition that she sign a waiver releasing the Salvation Army from any further legal liability in relation to the abuse she suffered.

The hearing will resume on Monday.