Five More Ex-students Allege Abuse against St Edmund's College since Revelations

By Christopher Knaus
Canberra Times
June 2, 2016

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/five-more-exstudents-allege-abuse-against-st-edmunds-college-since-revelations-20160601-gp8wd7.html

Lawyers say five former St Edmund's College students have emerged with child abuse complaints in the past two weeks, after revelations that Catholic officials knowingly allowed two suspected paedophiles to continue teaching.

Porters Lawyers principal Jason Parkinson is now urging other Canberra survivors to come forward, and warns against dealing directly with the Catholic order or with the church's Towards Healing process.

Francis Cable, also known as Brother Romuald, abused 19 children before he came to St Edmund's. Photo: Jonathan Carroll

"When it's only one person coming forward, the weight of the church is upon that individual," Mr Parkinson said. "But when his former teachers or former schoolmates can help, it eases the load."

Two weeks ago, Fairfax Media revealed that officials from separate Catholic orders had turned a blind eye to complaints of abuse about two brothers, allowing them to continue teaching, including eventually in Canberra.

St Edmund's College in Griffith. Photo: Rohan Thomson

In one case, a Marist Brothers principal learned of a complaint against Brother Francis "Romuald" Cable in 1967 but failed to report it to police.

Cable was moved, and went on to abuse 11 more children in Marist Brothers schools in the Hunter Valley, before leaving the order and coming to St Edmund's College to teach for 10 years until 1989.

The Marist Brothers order later distanced itself from the principal, saying it has no record of him taking his knowledge of Cable any higher, and that the brotherhood only became aware of complaints in 1993.

Cable has since been convicted of offences against 19 boys, and is serving a lengthy sentence in a NSW jail.

The late St Edmund's College headmaster from 1960-65, Noel T Landener. Photo: Supplied

A picture of Francis Cable, the St Edmund's College yearbook.

A second brother with the Christian Brothers order, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was moved to St Edmund's despite a previous complaint of abuse against him. While he was in Canberra, he allegedly abused a St Edmund's College student.

He then moved on to a school in NSW, where he allegedly raped and molested a 12-year-old boy repeatedly. Those allegations are currently before a criminal court.

Fairfax Media also revealed that another civil claim of child abuse had recently been made against the late Noel Landener, the St Edmund's College headmaster from 1960 to 1965.

Now, Canberra-based firm Porters Lawyers say five more complainants from St Edmund's College have come forward. Others have contacted the firm with information they believe to be suspicious.

The firm has not revealed details of those claims at this early stage, including who the alleged abuser was, or what period of the school's history they relate to.

But Mr Parkinson described them as a direct result of publicity in The Canberra Times.

The firm's usual approach is to file claims in court, rather than discreetly deal directly with the church.

It has handled a huge number of child abuse matters, filing roughly 1000 writs in supreme courts across the country, involving claims against the church, schools, defence, and other institutions.

Operation Attest, the specialist taskforce set up by ACT Policing for historical child abuse, consulted with Porters Lawyers in its early stages.

That taskforce continues its work, and has repeatedly urged for survivors to contact them with complaints, which are treated with sensitivity and privacy.

Mr Parkinson, himself a former NSW police officer, warned against going to the Catholic orders' professional standards services and through the church's Towards Healing process.

Those approaches generally involve giving survivors the opportunity to talk to someone in authority, receive an apology, pastoral care, and compensation.

But Mr Parkinson said it allowed the church control, tended to silence survivors, and resulted in lower payouts.

"The representatives of the abusers will tell you how much they're going to pay for having abused you," he said. "That is hardly fair or transparent, which is why they hate the courts."

In response, Christian Brothers, who previously administered St Edmund's College, reiterated its call for anyone who had suffered abuse at its facilities to come forward. The order strongly encouraged anyone with evidence of criminal conduct to take it to the police.

It said its professional standards process allowed individuals to be independently legally represented.

The child abuse royal commission, in a report released last year, criticised aspects of the Catholic Church's Towards Healing process.

Data on compensation shows the Towards Healing payed out an average of $48,300 to 881 complainants.

Anyone with a complaint should contact ACT Policing's Operation Attest through the police operations line on 131 444 or email Op-Attest@afp.gov.au.