Cries for Help from Sexually Abused Boys Ignored by Wa Police
By Aleisha Orr
A public hearing has heard how at least two young boys, sent to Australia from overseas reported sexual abuse at Christian Brothers run ‘schools’ to police officers but were not taken seriously. Edward Delaney, a child migrant from the United Kingdom described being sexually abused as a child at Bindoon Farm School while giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He left Bindoon at the age of 16 and told the commission that two years later he went to the police to report the abuse he’d experienced. Mr Delaney said he went to Mount Lawley Police Station and told officers that he’d been sexually abused by the brothers at Bindoon. He said he was told that if he continued on with his claims he would be charged, “they did not believe me.” Raphael Ellul, a child migrant from Malta who described a great sense of loss as a result of his treatment which included sexual, physical and mental abuse, also told the Perth hearing that he went to the police. He told the Commission on Tuesday that he ran away from St Mary’s Agricultural School in Tardun once and when he was picked up by a motorist, was taken to a police station. Mr Ellul told police officers that he had run away “because Brother Simon was interfering with me.” He said a police officer told him not to tell lies about “good men” and slapped him on the face before returning him to Tardun. After giving evidence to the hearing he told media that the Christian Brothers were able to get away with systematic abuse of young boys in their care because “the church was in cahoots with governments, they would band together.” “If you tell somebody something and there’s enough people, you think somebody’d believe you. “If you took all these people who spoke to the commission and put them in one room, you’d swear that they’re cahooting with one another because they’ve got the same story, now there’s only one problem with that, is that none of us met each other, so what does that say?” While a WA Police representative will not appear before the public hearings in Perth, a police spokeswoman said the police had been been working closely with the Royal Commission since its inception. “In regard to any victim statements made during the commission, it is not appropriate for WA Police to comment until the Royal Commission is completed and any findings have been reviewed.” Day four Thursday It is understood that Hayden Stephens, a partner with Slater and Gordon will be questioned at the hearing on Thursday. He is expected to be asked about statements made during the pubic hearings earlier in the week by participants in a class action against the Christian Brothers. Howard Harrison, a partner with Carroll & O'Dea, who represented the interests of the Christian Brothers and individual defendants is also listed as a witness.
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