AUSTRALIA
The Australian
DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 04, 2014
BOYS living in a Salvation Army-run children’s home in Brisbane were flown to Sydney by a millionaire hardware store owner to be sexually abused, with at least one victim who never returned possibly being murdered. Senior officers at the Indooroopilly boys’ home also moved an alleged child-rapist to NSW, “otherwise he would have ended up in jail”, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard.
Giving evidence yesterday, retired Salvation Army Major Cliff Randall said he was working at the home in 1975 when boys started disappearing for days at a time and returned noticeably subdued.
Speaking to one such child, “word that we received was that the boys were going to a millionaire who owned a hardware store in Brisbane,” he told the commission. “They were met outside and taken to this place.
“They were given drink and chocolates and everything . . . they were used that day in Brisbane then the next day they were sent down to Sydney.”
Once there, the boys were taken to the upmarket inner-city suburb of Paddington and abused by a “top chef” who owned a restaurant, Mr Randall said, although he did not know the names of any of the men allegedly involved.
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