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Child abuse victim raped, burned, held underwater ...
By Dan Box
Australian
April 7, 2014
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/child-abuse-victim-raped-burned-held-underwater-by-salvation-army-major-victor-bennett/story-fngburq5-1226876756636
Child abuse victim raped, burned, held underwater by Salvation Army major Victor Bennett
A SALVATION Army officer put out cigarettes on the body of a seven-year-old boy, who was also thrown into a swimming pool with bricks tied to his feet, the royal commission has heard.
The boy, who cannot be named, was repeatedly raped by the officer, Major Victor Bennett, at a Salvation Army-run home in Queensland but was later offered only $10,000 in compensation by the church.
In a formal statement sent to the Salvation Army in 2007 and subsequently tendered to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the victim said “Major Bennett put out cigarette butts on me and even between my toes.
“I was stripped naked and bricks were tied to my feet then I was thrown in the pool by Major Bennett. I managed to get my feet loose but when I tried to get out, he pushed me back in,” the statement said.
A separate internal report, drawn up by another Salvation Army officer who interviewed the victim, said he “has terrible memories of his experiences, waking at night screaming at his wife.”
According to a “matrix” drawn up by the Army to calculate the level of compensation paid to dozens of children abused in its homes, this victim should have received far more than the $10,000 initially offered to him, the commission heard.
Asked why this decision was made, one of the officers involved in providing this compensation, Major Daphne Cox, said “I can’t recall, I don’t know”.
“Looking at that now, we should have done better,” Ms Cox said.
Mr Bennett died in 1986, the commission has heard.
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