Royal commission into child sexual abuse: Canberra hearings to examine Marist Brothers response

By Ewan Gilbert
ABC News
June 10, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-10/royal-commission-hearing-canberra/5510368

John Chute - also known as Brother Kostka - spent time in jail for assaulting students at Marist College.

During the 1970s and 80s the Marist College and Daramalan College in Canberra were home to at least five known paedophiles.

Four have since been convicted and one took his own life shortly after making his confession.

Now, decades on, it is the task of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to investigate who knew what, when they knew it and what, if anything, they did about it.

The commission will spend the next two weeks examining the response of the Marist Brothers to allegations of child sexual abuse in schools across the ACT, New South Wales and Queensland.

Someone who will be watching the Canberra hearings closely is lawyer Jason Parkinson.

"The case against Marist College, in my view, is one of the most important cases involving the Catholic Church," Mr Parkinson said.

"It was clear... that the Catholic Church and the Marist Brothers were not going to admit any wrongdoing and they were going to fight every case."

Mr Parkinson represented many of the victims in their fight for compensation and he said it was their original complaints that spurred on much of the public outcry.

"They've had a big attempt at starting this royal commission," he said.

"They should be very proud of themselves because I think a lot of it is down to them."

While the attitude of the Church and school has since evolved, Francis Sullivan from the Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council said the hearings would be a necessary examination into past actions.

"We've got to expect to hear very disturbing stories of abuse," he said.

"What isn't clear is the micro-detail about how things were handled.

"The local community wants answers because there's a lot of confusion and anger still in this community."

The next two weeks of hearings will focus on allegations regarding Brother John Chute, also known as Brother Kostka, and former Marist Brother Gregory Sutton.

For the first time since his conviction in 1996, Gregory Sutton's name can be published after the royal commission lifted a suppression order on the details.

Brother Kostka spent two years in prison after pleading guilty in 2008 to several counts of abuse at Marist College.

But Mr Parkinson said Brother Kostka's criminal proceedings were based on just six complainants.

"However, some 90 men ended up issuing writs in the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory," he said.

"They generally were between 13 and 15 [years old at the time].

"He abused them in the dark rooms of the photography course, at film clubs, in the showers. He was an opportunist. Even as they walked past his office he would drag them in and assault them."

But Mr Parkinson said many of those who came forward told stories of abuse long before Brother Kostka ever made it to Marist College.

"Unfortunately he was moved regularly... through schools, [from] Bondi through country NSW, through Sydney and then ending up at Marist College in Canberra," he said.

Unlike the ACT courts, the royal commission will have the jurisdiction to investigate all of those allegations and some new ones.

"It's only just come to our attention that he (Brother Kostka) was given a canonical warning by the provincials of the Marist Brothers back in 1969 and at the same time moved from a Lismore school to another school," Mr Parkinson said.

"Clearly on that test they (the Catholic Church) were on notice back in 1969."

The commission will also hear for the first time from many of Brother Kostka's and Brother Sutton's superiors and colleagues.

Mr Sullivan said the handling of child sexual abuse claims uncovered so far by the royal commission has been shameful.

"A lot of people in the community are shocked, Catholics are shocked and the handling has been something that is a shame on the Church," he said.

"They put the interests of the Church in front of the interests of the victims. It was a classic example of where the institution looks after itself, is worried about scandal, is worried about public shame."

Mr Parkinson said Canberrans should be prepared for more damning news in the weeks ahead.

"It was a sad day for Canberra that two schools could have these atrocities occurring at them. We're not used to that sort of thing in Canberra," he said.