AUSTRALIA
The Age
July 8, 2015
Mark Russell
A paedophile Catholic brother who preyed on three children in Melbourne before returning to America was ordered by his Marianist religious order to undergo psycho-sexual therapy 26 years before being charged by Victoria Police.
Bernard Hartman, 75, was also required to sign a ‘safety plan’ in 1997 after the Marianist order became aware child sexual abuse allegations had been made against him in Australia.
The safety plan meant Hartman was not allowed to go anywhere alone.
Hartman, who had been a teacher at St Paul’s College in Altona between 1972-1983, appeared in the County Court on Wednesday for a pre-sentence hearing after pleading guilty to four charges of indecently assaulting two girls aged between five to 11 during the 1970s.
He was found guilty by a jury in May 2015 of one count of indecent assault and two counts of assault involving a male student between 1981-1982.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.