Orphanage priest made victim confess her 'sin': inquiry

Brisbane Times
April 14, 2015

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/orphanage-priest-made-victim-confess-her-sin-inquiry-20150414-1mks5x.html

A Queensland woman says she was repeatedly raped as a child by a priest, who then made her confess to her "sin".

A Queensland woman has told a national inquiry she was repeatedly raped as a child by a Catholic priest, who then made her confess to her "sin".

The 67-year-old woman was 11 when Father Reginald Durham, her parish priest, began sexually abusing her at her Rockhampton home, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard.

The woman, identified by the commission only as AYB, said Fr Durham abused her more than 100 times over the following years, including at his presbytery at the Neerkol orphanage when she worked there as a teacher.

She detailed how the now-deceased priest fondled her breasts, forced her to masturbate him, digitally raped her and penetrated her with objects.

"After each time I was sexually abused, I had to go to confession to him and confess my sin of impurity," AYB told the commission, which was sitting in Rockhampton on Tuesday.

"He would say, 'Are you sorry for your sin, my child?' and I would reply 'Yes Father'."

She said Fr Durham would then give her absolution.

The priest was sentenced to 18 months' jail in 1999 after pleading guilty to six counts of indecently dealing with the woman when she was a child.

He was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for raping another child, but the conviction was overturned on appeal and he was ultimately ruled mentally unfit to stand trial.

AYB told the commission she was ignored when she initially reported the abuse to other priests and was later humiliated during a psychological assessment set up by the Catholic Church Insurance company.

She said she still suffers nightmares and had considered suicide.

"I have spent the majority of my life struggling with the impact of sexual abuse that began when I was just a little girl of 11," she said.

"I have spent much of my life believing I was lower than a snake's belly."

Several others are due to recount experiences of sexual abuse at the hands of Fr Durham and other priests at the Neerkol orphanage between 1940 and 1975.

The commission is investigation historical allegations of child abuse at the Neerkol St Joseph's Orphanage near Rockhampton, which was operated by the Sisters of Mercy until 1978.