AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND)
New Zealand Herald
December 1, 2020
By Isaac Davison
A mother who was raped by a Catholic priest says the church investigated the abuse initially moved him to a different school rather than punishing him.
She later complained to police, who twice decided against pressing charges before finally securing a conviction after a review.
Ann-Marie Shelley, now aged 64, appeared before a royal commission of inquiry in Auckland this morning, which is holding hearings on abuse in faith-based institutions.
She was left at Hutt Hospital after her birth in 1955 and placed for adoption through Catholic Social Services.
In a harrowing statement, Shelley described how she was neglected or abused at nearly every stage of her life – at the hands of her adoptive parents, at primary school, at a social welfare home, in an unmarried parents’ home, by a priest, and in a Red Cross shelter.
While she was training to be a nurse at Hutt Hospital, she was raped by Peter Hercock, a school counsellor and chaplain at Sacred Heart College in Lower Hutt.
Hercock’s crimes have previously been reported, but Shelley today spoke for the first time in detail about the way the church handled her complaint. She was critical of church leaders who have since been promoted to prestigious roles in New Zealand.
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