AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By the National Reporting Team’s Lorna Knowles
Posted January 15, 2016
A woman who was suing the Catholic Church over sexual abuse she suffered as a young child has been awarded an out-of-court settlement.
Gina Swannell was seeking damages in the NSW Supreme Court for sexual abuse she suffered when she was six years old at the hands the late Father Charles Holdsworth when she was a boarder at the St Francis Xavier school in Urana.
Last August, Ms Swannell spoke out publicly against the Church, telling the ABC the Church was failing to honour its pledge to treat sexual abuse victims with more compassion.
She now says she is happy with the settlement, but believes it would not have happened if she had not gone public.
“The apology is accepted but trust is denied,” Ms Swannell said.
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