A Priest Raped a Boy, Then Ordered the Boy to "Confess" the Rape and Keep It Secret

Broken Rites
August 7, 2014

http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/240

This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive account available about a Melbourne Catholic priest, Father James Scannell, who was jailed in 2014 for raping a 12-year-old boy who was in his custody. After the rape (in the early 1970s), Scannell ordered the boy to "confess" the event and never to tell anybody about it. This breach of trust (and the code of silence) damaged the victim's adolescence and his later life. Forty years later, the victim (now in his fifties) finally reported this crime to the police after learning that his aunt's funeral in 2010 was to be conducted by this priest who had raped him.

In the Melbourne County Court on 1 July 2014 a jury convicted Father James Henry Scannell, 88, on a charge of buggery, committed against the 12-year-old boy in the early 1970s.

On 7 August 2014, Judge David Parsons gave Scannell a two-year jail sentence. He must serve 12 months before he becomes eligible for parole.

During the trial, the court was told that in the early 1970s, Father Scannell was doing some ministering in a Melbourne parish (St Anne's, East Kew), where the 12-year-old boy lived with his mother and sisters. The boy's father was absent from the family. The boy's aunt knew Father Scannell and she presumed that a Catholic priest would be a good "male role model" for the boy. The boy was paid to do some odd jobs at the priest's house in East Kew. Father Scannell was then aged in his mid-forties.

The aunt asked Father Scannell to discuss puberty with the boy some time. When the boy visited the priest's house again to do some more odd jobs, Father Scannell (wearing only a dressing gown) led the boy into the priest's bedroom, stripped him naked and raped him.

Other vulnerable children

Simultaneously with his work in parishes, Father Scannell also spent much of his career acting as a "chaplain" for disadvantaged children (with an intellectual disability) in a Melbourne orphanage-type institution which was known as the "Kew Cottages" (now abolished).

Father Scannell (date of birth 17 April 1926) is still listed in the current (July 2014) edition of the official Australian Catholic Directory as a "Supplementary Priest" of the Melbourne archdiocese. Supplementary priests are no longer in charge of a parish, but they are available to do relief work for other parish priests or for conducting weddings or funerals. Father now Scannell has the letters "PE" (pastor emeritus) after his name, which means that the Melbourne archdiocese has awarded him the honour of being a distinguished priest.

Preliminary court proceedings, 2013

The court process began when James Henry Scannell appeared for a preliminary ("committal") procedure in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on 26 June 2013, accompanied by supporters.

Scannell was charged with one incident of buggery and two incidents of indecent assault. He pleaded Not Guilty to all charges.

In a police document, tendered in court in 2013, the victim stated that Father Scannell paid him some pocket money to do odd jobs around the priest's house on a Saturday morning. The jobs included weeding the garden, washing his car and sweeping paths.

"On about the third or fourth occasion when I finished my jobs he would sit me down on the couch in the lounge room and start talking to me about things that made me feel uncomfortable," the victim stated.

He stated that, after these talks, the priest "would tell me to kneel beside his chair and face him, then take Confession."

The victim stated that the abuse happened several times before the final time he went to the priest's home to do odd jobs. "I don't remember even doing any work. (He) took me straight into his lounge room and sat me on the couch. (He) was only wearing a dressing gown," he stated.

The victim detailed to police how the priest "cuddled me and tried to kiss me on the lips. I kept trying to turn away...he wouldn't let me go.

"I remember being frozen with fear and was scared of what was happening".

The victim stated that the priest then took him to a bedroom where the priest undressed the boy and committed the act of buggery on the boy.

The priest then made the boy take Confession again before ordering that "this event should never be talked about with anybody," the victim stated.

[This Confession ritual was for the boy to confess the "sin" that the boy had just committed, not for the priest to confess the sin that the priest had just committed.]

The boy then walked home crying, the court was told. He never went back to the priest's house again.

The victim stated that he kept the incidents as a secret for many years.

As well a submitting his written statement, the victim also gave verbal evidence to the court. The court arranged for the victim (aged 54 in 2013) to appear, via closed circuit television, from a different room in the court building. He answered questions from the prosecutor and the defence lawyer. As usual in such committal proceedings, the Magistrates Court was closed to the public during this evidence, so as to protect the privacy of witnesses.

The court was told that the victim first revealed the allegations when he and his wife were watching a documentary about Catholic priests. The wife told the court that the documentary made her husband angry and he then told her about the priest who had molested him.

The court was told that in October 2010 the victim's aunt died. The victim's sister contacted Father Scannell, asking him to conduct the funeral of the aunt who had known the priest. When the victim heard about the proposed funeral arrangements, he said he would refuse to attend if this priest was there - and the victim then revealed what the priest had done to him as a child.

The sister told the court that, after hearing about the abuse, she contacted the priest and told him not to conduct the funeral or attend.

According to court documents, the victim became angry at himself after his aunt's funeral, for never reporting Scannell's crime to police. After the funeral, he finally decided to contact the police. After being interviewed by a detective, he eventually made his signed police statement.

The priest told police that the victim's aunt had asked him to have a word with the boy about puberty, according to the transcript of his interview with police. In line with his Not Guilty plea, he priest denied molesting the boy.

In court, Magistrate Ann Collins decided that there is indeed sufficient evidence for the case to go to trial, to be conducted by a judge in a higher court, the Melbourne County Court.

At this preliminary stage, media reports of the committal result referred merely to an un-named priest.

Magistrate Collins released the priest on bail while the County Court scheduled the jury trial for a later date (normally some months away).

[Two days after the Magistrates Court hearing, the Melbourne Herald Sun published a comment from Melbourne retired priest Father Bob Maguire who said (in reply to a question from a reporter) that he had known the accused priest since the 1960s. Father Maguire indicated that, in this court case between the complainant and the priest, he was supporting the priest.]

Jury trial, 2014

At the jury trial in the County Court in June 2014, Scannell was faced with one charge - the buggery. He again pleaded not guilty and the jury was presented with the evidence.

In addressing the jury, prosecutor Kristie Churchill said that, after hearing that his aunt's funeral in 2010 would be conducted by Father Scannell, the victim reacted with shock. He decided that he had felt ashamed for long enough and therefore he reported the sexual assault to police.

The prosecutor said Father Scannell's reaction at being told he was not welcome to perform the funeral was notable. "He simply says OK, doesn't ask why, just says OK," she said.

Ms Churchill said the complainant, aged 55 at the time of the trial, is a reliable and believable witness who had given his evidence in graphic detail and "like it was".

Father Scannell's defence lawyer told the jury that it was difficult to prove one person's allegation against another when so much time had elapsed.

After the Jury's verdict, Judge David Parsons allowed Scannell to remain on bail until the sentencing process..

Pre-sentence hearing

In the Melbourne County Court on 1 August 2014, Judge David Parsons held a pre-sentence procedure, to hear submissons by the prosecutor and the church's defence lawyer about what sort of sentence should be imposed on Scannell.

The court received a written impact statement from the victim, outlining how the church-abuse disrupted his adolesence and his later life. He stated that he had lived with feelings of loss and guilt every day in the past 40 years. The breach of trust had damaged his ability to form one-on-one friendships and it had put a strain on his marriage, he said.

"I have lost my religion, I lost this the day I was molested, The memories start every time I walk past a church."

He said the only time he enters a church now is to attend a wedding, christening or funeral. "These leave me devastated," he said. "I will live with this for the rest of my life."

Scannell's lawyer told the judge that Scannell has been well regarded by his peers and the community. He emphasised that only one complainant had spoken to the police, and Scannell was being sentenced for only one incident.

Prosecutor Kristie Churchill said general deterrence was of paramount importance in cases such as these.

Judge David Parsons noted that Scannell had expressed no remorse for what happened to the boy. "There is not the slightest hint in any of the materials of remorse," the judge said.

This lack of remorse would weigh heavily in the balance of sentencing considerations, the judge said.

The judge then remanded Scannell in custody untll the sentencing (the following week). A security officer escorted Scannell from the court for transferring to the remand prison.

Police contacts

The Victoria Police investigation for the Scannell case was conducted by Leading Senior Constable Tracey van Wyngaarden, of the Sexual Offences and Child-abuse Investigation Team (SOCIT) in Box Hill, Melbourne. This SOCIT office is still available for receiving any further information about James Henry Scannell.

In addition, the Sexual Crimes Squad in Flinders Street, Melbourne, has a unit of detectives (called the Sano Taskforce) which specialises in similar child-abuse cases.

Research by Broken Rites

James Henry Scannell was originally a member of the Marist Brothers, where his "religious" name was "Brother Frederick". He was in the Marists' southern province (this province, with headquarters in Melbourne, supplied "reverend Brothers" to schools in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia). Broken Rites has ascertained that "Brother Frederick" once taught at the Marist Brothers school in Northam W.A., along with two other Marist child-sex offenders - Brother "Bertinus" and Brother Frank Hesford.

In the 1960s, James Scannell ceased being a Marist Brother and was allowed to become a priest. Henceforth he belonged to the Melbourne archdiocese, where he became known as "Father Jim Scannell". Broken Rites has searched the annual editions of the Australian Catholic Directory, and we found that he was first listed as a priest in the 1967 edition, which said he was then based at the parish of St Mary of the Angels, Geelong.

From 1968 until the late 1990s, he was listed as chaplain at the Geriatric Hospital and the adjoining Children's Cottages in Kew, Melbourne. Simultaneously he did some work in parishes around Melbourne, including Kew East, Kingsville, Brighton East and Warburton.

The Kew Children's Cottages and Geriatric Hospital had originally been known (in the 19th century) as the Kew Lunatic Asylum or later as the Kew Mental Hospital or Willesmere. The site was beside the Yarra River, only 6 kilometres from central Melbourne. These institutions have now been closed and the site has been developed for private housing.

Broken Rites would be interested to learn more about Father Jim Scannell's activities while he was the "chaplain" for these vulnerable people, especially at the Kew Cottages for children. Scannell was publicly identified with the Kew Cottages. For example, on 8 April 1997 the Melbourne Age newspaper reported a ceremony at the Kew Cottages, at which Father Jim Scannell spoke.

The Kew Cottages were established in 1887 to accommodate unwanted children who have an intellectual disability. Some Wards of the State and other various "difficult" children were also admitted. Many of those children remained in residence at the Cottages as adults. The Kew Cottages institution was finally closed in 2008.