Marist Brother and Known Paedophile Made Deputy Leader of Community Attended by Boys As Young As 12

By Janet Fife-yeomans
Daily Telegraph
June 19, 2014

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/marist-brother-and-known-paedophile-made-deputy-leader-of-community-attended-by-boys-as-young-as-12/story-fni0cx12-1226960143331

Brother Alexis Turton leaving the ACT Magistrates Court in Canberra after appearing at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

A KNOWN paedophile was made a deputy leader of a Marist Brothers community and allowed to work at a “farmhouse” facility which was attended by boys from the age of 12, the child sex abuse royal commission has been told today.

When he was charged by police, Brother Kostka Chute had his legal fees paid for by the Marist Brothers, a multi-million dollar organisation that enjoys tax-free status, and accompanied to court on every occasion by the religious orders’s director of professional standards, Brother Alexis Turton.

Brother Turton, 74, who is a former Australian provincial, or head, of the Marist Brothers, said he could understand that his support for Brother Kostka was likely to have appeared offensive to the victims of his abuse but he had considered it part of his role.

He said there was an expectation within the Marist Brothers that he made sure that Chute, who was living at a Marist Brothers property at Blacktown, kept his court appointments.

He could not recall if he had signed the bail surety for Chute when he was arrested in 2008 but said he had just signed documents that were put in front of him by court officers.

Marist Brother John Chute, known as Brother Kostka, leaves the ACT Magistrates Court in 2008 where he was charged with 18 counts of committing indecent acts with boys aged between 13 and 15.

Brother Turton, one of the country’s most senior Marist Brothers, was asked if he had ever signed a bail surety for the release of a person charged with sexual assault matters.

“I would have to talk to a legal person to get a full explanation of the term, I’m afraid,” he said.

Chute served two years of a six year jail sentence after pleading guilty in 2008 to 19 counts of child sex abuse.

The commission was told that despite having confessed to the then-provincial heads of the Marist Brothers three times in 1962, 1967 and 1972 to abusing boys, it was not until 1994 that Chute was stopped from teaching.

In 1997 he was moved to the Marist facility at Mittagong which included a “farmhouse” attended by boys from the age of 12 where Chute was a cook.

In 2002, Chute was appointed to the position of authority as assistant leader of the Mittagong community, the same year that Brother Turton took over as director of professional standards.

Counsel assisting the commission, Simeon Beckett, asked Brother Turton what steps had been taken to avoid Sutton having any contact with children.

The royal commission is also looking into how serial paedophile Brother Gregory Sutton was moved around schools.

Brother Turton said his “understanding” was that he community leader had been aware of “the situation” and he “believed” he had spoken to the leader about it.

Mr Beckett: “Was it ever put in writing as to what he was and was not to do?”

Brother Turton; “I’m not sure, I can’t answer that.”

Mt Beckett: “Brother, it seems to have been rather a loose process.....”

Brother Tutron: “It wasn’t uncommon for guidelines and directions like this to be given verbally, I must say.”

The commission is investigating how Brother Chute and fellow serial paedophile Brother Gregory Sutton were moved around Marist Brothers schools after their abuse of pupils became known.

The hearing in Canberra continues.