Paedophile Brother Kostka remains a Marist brother, Sydney Morning Herald (June 30, 2014)

A man jailed for six years for abusing children is still a member of the Marist Brothers, a hearing in Sydney has been told.

Brother Alexis Turton, the former head of the order in Australia and head of their professional standards office until 2012, said that John Chute, known as Brother Kostka, was still a member, at Monday's hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Peter O'Brien, the solicitor representing Damian De Marco, who was assaulted by Chute when he was a student at Marist College in Canberra, asked Brother Turton, if he was aware of any moves to "defrock [Chute] as a brother".

Brother Turton said he had no knowledge if moves were afoot to remove Chute from the brotherhood.

He said he had seen Chute's medical records and "his state of health is not good". He has dementia and does not live with the brothers.

Brother Turton, who gave two days' evidence when the royal commission sat in Canberra, answered questions about how he and the order handled the cases of two brothers - Chute and John Sutton - who were both jailed for molesting children.

Chute was sentenced to six years in 2008 after pleading guilty to assaulting 19 children.

The commission heard he first offended in 1959 and was given a canonical warning in 1968 after admissions of repeated child sex abuse offences.

Mr O'Brien also accused Brother Turton of giving "hopelessly inconsistent" evidence about a meeting he had with Mr De Marco in Canberra Airport in 1993.

Mr De Marco had reported that Brother Kostka had tried to put his hands down his pants and touch his genitals when he was at Marist College in Canberra.

Brother Turton's subsequent notes said there was "nothing genital" involved in Brother Kostka's dealings with Mr De Marco.

He told Mr O'Brien on Monday that "what I can be quite certain about is the notes I took at the time".

Mr O'Brien asked if, when he was professional standards officer, it was his role to "conceal rather than expose" abuse.

Brother Turton: "That was not my role".

When asked if he saw his role as being primarily to protect the reputation of the brothers above all else, he replied: "Far from it."