AUSTRALIA
WA Today
September 21, 2013
Martin Flanagan
Sports Writer for The Age
We were warned this week that the royal commission on child sexual abuse will unleash a ”tsunami of trauma”. I suspect this is correct. Indeed, I suspect we’ll be a different country in one year in the way Britain is a different society one year after the Jimmy Savile case came to light.
I have stated previously in this column that I gave evidence that helped convict a priest in a sexual assault case and resulted in him going to jail.
I was aged 16, in a boarding school. I witnessed the aftermath of the assault, saw physical evidence of what had occurred and the trauma of the victim, a boy of 12. Thirty-one years later, I was rung by a policeman and asked if I wanted to make a statement.
Over the years, I had thought of trying to locate the boy – by then a man – and assure him of my support. But I didn’t.
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