Child sexual abuse victim John Hennessey relives horrors...

By Amanda Partridge
Daily Telegraph
May 01, 2014

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/macarthur/child-sexual-abuse-victim-john-hennessey-relives-horrors-giving-evidence-at-royal-commission/story-fngr8h70-1226901786179

Armed with a picture of his late mother, John Hennessey prepares to give evidence in Perth at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

John Hennessey out the front of the Royal Commission in Perth on Monday.

Mr Hennessey clutches a newspaper clipping and a picture of his mother, outside the Royal Commission in Perth on Monday.

Mr Hennessey says he is sick of apologies, he wants justice.

Child sexual abuse victim John Hennessey relives horrors, giving evidence at Royal Commission

INGLEBURN resident John Hennessey is looking forward to coming home after reliving the horror stories of the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of the Christian Brothers.

Mr Hennessey gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Perth on Monday.

For the years between 1947-1953 he was raped, beaten and emotionally abused by the brothers at the Bindoon boys home in Western Australia.

Read more: John Hennessey shares stories at the Royal Commission

Read more: Mr Hennessey tells how he feels to be called up to give evidence

As Mr Hennessey took to the stand to dredge up horror memories he has never spoken of before, the silence was fittingly poignant.

“The thing that amazed me was that you could hear a pin drop in the commission,” Mr Hennessey, a former Campbelltown deputy mayor, told the Macarthur Chronicle.

“The gallery was packed and as I was giving evidence some people had to be escorted from the courthouse because they broke down.

“People in the gallery were that affected. I saw a couple of the commissioners open their eyes too. It looks like they were affected as well.

“It perhaps was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life because it was so personal.

“A lot of the evidence that I gave I have never, ever told anybody in my life.”

Mr Hennessey said he felt obliged to give evidence to ensure the horrors he suffered as a child would never be inflicted on another person.

“I have trust in this Royal Commission that something will be done, that there will be justice. And the public have got to know what happened to innocent little children,” he said.

“It took a lot out of me. To think that this sort of thing happened ... and I will go to my grave a very troubled person seems so unfair.

“It’s going to affect me for a few days. I’m hardly sleeping since giving evidence but I have had a lot of support from the Royal Commission.”

Mr Hennessey, born out of wedlock in the UK, was removed from his mother at birth. His mother was told he had died.

At age 11 he was sent to Australia as part of the child migration scheme, where he suffered abuse at the hands of the brothers, including one beating which left him with a stutter.

Some 57 years later Mr Hennessey was reunited with his mother.

“I want justice. I want to know why we had to go through this, why was it done in the name of the church, why the Australian and British governments didn’t do anything about it,” Mr Hennessey said.

“I’m sick to death of apologies - nothing has ever come out of it.”

Mr Hennessey said the worst part of the abuse he suffered was the effect it has on his ability to maintain a relationship, which has deprived him the joy of having children.

“If there’s one big tragedy that happened with what the brothers did to us it’s telling is the opposite sex was evil and growing up as teenager being told that,” he said.

“After I left Bindoon I had relationships with women, some of them very nice, but I always felt uncomfortable. I don’t know why.

“As a result that prevented me from having children and it’s the one thing I regret. I’m the last Hennessey of my family and this is the part that hurts me.

“I have got no little Hennessey’s running around the place and would have loved to have children. I would have spoilt them.

“To think that I’m the last one in a long line of family is tragic.

“How can you compensate for that anyway? How can you compensate being away from your mother for 57 years? There are things you just can’t put into monetary terms at all.

“If I save one child from going through anything like this I will be very happy.”

Mr Hennessey said despite the difficulty of the experience, he has enjoyed the chance to meet up with old classmates in Perth.

“We are having old-boy reunions. The best thing about it is we all relate together, it’s like a big family,” he said.

“We have tears in our eyes when we talk to one another - we had the same experiences.

“We have spoken about why us? We were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“After I gave my evidence people clapped. My classmates came over and said “John we are proud of you”. Coming from your own classmates who have been through similar situation, that was very touching.”

Mr Hennessey will return home on Sunday evening.