AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
MICHAEL MADIGAN AND AAP THE COURIER-MAIL APRIL 22, 2015
NUNS accused of abusing children at a notorious Queensland orphanage refused to meet the victims as adults because they feared not remembering what happened, a national inquiry has heard.
Up to five of the Sister of Mercy nuns alleged to have abused children at Neerkol Orphanage were still alive in the 1990s, but many were “anxious and nervous” about meeting victims.
As the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse in Rockhampton nears the end of a two-week hearing, a former nun has recalled the reactions of the Sisters of Mercy alleged to have abused and humiliated children at St Joseph’s Orphanage at Neerkol, west of the city.
Di-Anne Rowan, a former teacher and religious education co-ordinator who left the order in 2003, told the hearing she believed between three and five of the nuns facing allegations of abuse were still alive when the accusations came into the public arena in the early 90s.
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