A Marist Brother, Aged 82, Is Brought to Justice for Old Crimes, Including Buggery

Broken Rites
March 19, 2015

http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/230

A member of the Catholic religious order of Marist Brothers in New South Wales — Brother Francis William Cable, known as Brother "Romuald" — was found guilty on 17 March 2015 of 13 serious child sex offences against two schoolboys after a jury trial in Sydney. Two days later, on March 19, he entered guilty pleas to offences against another 17 schoolboys. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on a later date. The offences, which occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, include buggery, plus multiple counts of indecent assault.

How the case began

In December 2012, New South Wales detectives (from Strike Force Georgiana, investigating historical child sex allegations) arrested Brother "Romuald" Cable (date of birth 3 May 1932) in a Canberra suburb (where he was living) after information from two former Marist Brothers school students in the Newcastle region. The detectives charged Brother Romuald with three indecent assault offences against the two students.

On 29 January 2013 Brother Romuald Cable appeared in Newcastle Local court, where the charges were officially recorded. The detectives increased the number of indecent assault charges to 23, and added two buggery charges. The number of alleged victims increased from two to six. After this court appearance, more former students contacted Strike Force Georgiana detectives.

On 13 March 2013 the case came up for mention again in the same court.The number of charges against Cable was increased to 33 and the number of alleged victims was increased to 12.

When the case came up for mention again in court on 3 July 2013, the prosecutor told the court that another 13 charges would be laid against Cable, bringing the total to 46.

In mid-2013 a brief of evidence against Brother Romuald, which was then already eight centimetres deep, was served to Romuald's lawyers, the court was told.

When the case came up in court again on 13 November 2013 (with 60 alleged offences against 22 boys), there was a discussion about court processes.

During the 2013 proceedings, the prosecutors alleged that the offences occurred at several schools in the Newcastle and Sydney regions between 1959 and 1974. The allegations included:

Indecent assaults at Marist Brothers schools at Hamilton, Maitland and Pagewood between 1959 and 1974, at Bar Beach and New Lambton, and at Myall Lakes in 1973 (these places are all in the Newcastle/Hunter region, except for Pagewood which is in Sydney); and

Incidents of buggery in the 1960s.

Victims' statements

Statements tendered to the Newcastle Local Court alleged that Brother Romuald indecently assaulted students behind his desk after calling them out in front of class or ordering them to stay behind alone after lessons.

Police alleged that Brother Romuald indecently assaulted one student during a sex education class when the boy was 13.

"He did this [sex education], one-on-one, in his office," the former student said in a police statement.

"I remember about halfway through the year [1972], it was my turn to have sex education with him."

Another former student alleged that Brother Romuald indecently assaulted him behind his desk after calling the boy to the front of the class. The student did not tell anyone because (he says) the incident allegedly occurred shortly after his father died and while his mother was struggling to cope.

By January 2014, Cable indicated that he would plead "not guilty" to all charges. Magistrate Robert Stone decided to commit Brother Francis William Romuald Cable for trial on more than 50 of the charges, involving 21 victims.

District Court case: GUILTY

The case then went to the New South Wales District Court in Sydney, to be conducted by a judge. The case was listed for 2014 but there was some legal argument about how to proceed. There were 21 victims and the defence wanted a separate jury for each victim (a total of 21 juries), meaning that each jury would believe that Cable had only one victim. The court eventually decided to have three juries (with a group of victims for each jury). The first jury trial was scheduled to begin 9 March 2015, with the other trials to follow that.

On 17 March 2015, the first jury found Cable guilty of 13 indecent assault and buggery charges against two students who were grouped together in the first trial.

On Thursday afternoon, 19 March 2015, Cable made a brief appearance in court, where he entered guilty pleas to offences against another 17 students from the scheduled jury trials. This made it unnecessary to hold any furfther jury trials.

Now Francis William Cable is locked up in remand prison and is expected to be sentenced in mid-2015.

Footnote

Broken Rites research indicates that, as well as working at the above-mentioned schools (Hamilton, Maitland and Pagewood), Brother Francis William Romuald Cable also worked in other schools, including (and this is not a complete list):

St Vincent's Boys Home, Westmead (late 1950s);

Marist Brothers Parramatta (in the early 1960s before transferring to Pagewood);

Marist Brothers Kogarah (from about 1969 into the 1970s);

Marist Brothers Dundas (mid-1970s).