Mission & Justice

Angus Hohenboken; 28/8/08

Orgies involving up to 60 schoolboys, priests and teachers are among allegations levelled at former staff members of a NSW Catholic boarding school. The Seven Network last night reported claims that nine former teachers and priests from St Stanislaus College in Bathurst, in eastern NSW, had committed sexual abuse on students during “hypnotic” night prayer services in the 1980s. An alleged victim, whose identity was withheld for legal reasons, said the number of victims involved in the encounters had grown over time. “It started out on a one-on-one basis and then in small groups of between eight and 12, and then on one occasion there was a large group of at least 60.”

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Angus Hohenboken; 15/8/08; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24183654-5013404,00.html

A Catholic priest charged yesterday with child sex offences against 18 young boys has been working in a Catholic library opposite a school since 2001. Father John Sidney Denham was charged with a count of buggery, 28 charges of indecent assault against a male and one of attempted assault against a male. The offences were allegedly committed in the Newcastle area in the 1970s and 80s. Police facts handed to Sydney Central Local Court said Father Denham was working opposite the Missionary of the Sacred Heart school in the city’s eastern suburbs as a librarian. He was remanded in custody to appear in court in Newcastle on October 1.

Gina Maka’a; 13/8/08

It has been estimated that in the Solomon Islands, almost 85%-90% of sexual assault cases of adults and children alike have not been reported to the local police or authorities. Solomon Times took the time to talk to Family Support Center’s Counselor, Lovelyn Kwaoga. The Family Support Centre, is a Non-Government Organization that supports victims of domestic violence, rape, prostitution and sexual abuse. Ms. Kwaoga states that common cases of sexual assault are often from single mothers and young girls. It has also been noted that most sexual assault cases are results of domestic violence and alcohol.

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Annabel Stafford; 13/8/08

Australia’s most senior Catholic, Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell, has apologised to the man at the centre of the sex abuse scandal that threatened to derail July’s World Youth Day. But Dr Pell has apologised only for badly drafting a 2003 letter in which he said Anthony Jones’ claims of sexual assault at the hands of Father Terence Goodall could not be substantiated. He did not apologise for dismissing Mr Jones’ claims or for subsequently suggesting the attack could have been consensual, despite revelations Father Goodall had admitted forcing himself on Mr Jones. “I do apologise to you for my (2003) letter … which was poorly drafted and, I regret, open to interpretations which I did not intend,” Dr Pell said to Mr Jones in a letter that arrived yesterday.

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Kate Dennehy; 10/8/08

Five former students of a high-profile Catholic school committed suicide years after being sexually abused by a priest there, says an alleged sixth victim. Paul Fauth, 59, now based in Melbourne, attended St Joseph’s Nudgee College in Brisbane in the 1950s and 1960s. He said a classmate attempted suicide on July 30 in Brisbane after memories of abuse were rekindled prior to World Youth Day. His life support system was turned off on August 1 and he was cremated on Thursday. Mr Fauth said that of his class of 29 students he knew of 10 who were sexually abused by the priest.

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Carol Nader; 5/8/08

Unborn babies are being trafficked across international borders and born into slavery and prostitution, and are deliberately maimed and forced to beg, Chief Federal Magistrate John Pascoe says. Mr Pascoe said pregnant women were coaxed from poorer countries with a few hundred dollars and deceived into believing their babies would have better lives. Instead, the women gave birth and did not know what became of their babies. They were not registered at birth and never officially existed. Some were illegally adopted or their organs were removed for the foetal tissue for restorative or so-called health purposes. Some were recruited as child soldiers or groomed into athletes.

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Andra Jackson; 28/7/08

The Australian Government has put up half a million dollars to try to stop displaced Iraqi women and girls stranded in Syria from resorting to prostitution to survive. Immigration Minister Chris Evans has expressed concern at United Nations reports that female refugees who have fled from Iraq to Syria are going into prostitution or enduring other forms of exploitation to keep going. Senator Evans announced last week that Australia would spend an extra $6.45 million on international aid projects to ease the plight of refugees who have fled war and persecution in their home countries. This brings the Government’s overall commitment to more than $16 million in 2008-09. Part of the money will be used to help Iraqi women in Syria who fled sexual violence.

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27/7/08; Letters; The Sun Herald; The Sydney Morning herald, No Internet Text

The Pope’s apology gives no peace of mind to those sexually abused by priests because there is no peace without justice, as the former Pope John Paul II said in 2002. Andrew Woodhouse, Potts Point, NSW

Impressive ’sorry’
There are strong echoes of Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Aborigines in Pope Benedict’s impressive “Sorry” to Australian victims of abuse at the hands of Catholic priests (The Sun-Herald, July 20). Sadly, the local Catholic contingent - Cardinal George Pell and Bishop Anthony Fisher being two - have very much taken on the former prime minister John Howard’s role: it wasn’t my fault, it’ll go away, and soon. We can only pray the pontiff’s example will go a long way towards building the bridges here that have been missing for so long like bringing the abusers to the justice laymen would have to face and give victims and theirfamilies at least some chance of closure. John Moir, Mollymook, NSW

Matthew Benns & Heath Gilmore; 27/7/08

Sex slaves trafficked into Australia should be given visas on humanitarian grounds even if they are unable to help police prosecute the people responsible for bringing them into the country, according to a new report. The recommendation from the Australian Institute of Criminology comes after The Sun-Herald revealed that a government summit had been convened to fight trafficking in sex slaves and that $20 million a year had been put aside to fight the crime.

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Alex Tibbitts; 26/7/08

A former executive of Kenja Communications - the personal development group founded by Ken Dyers, who committed suicide last year while facing 22 charges of sexual assault against two girls - has claimed she was asked to lie when other abuse allegations were made against Dyers in the 1990s. “I can’t say I ever saw him do anything,” a former director of a Kenja centre told the Herald after the screening of a documentary about Dyers at the Dendy Cinema in Newtown on Thursday night. “I didn’t have any intimate knowledge of what was happening in the rooms but what they wanted us to do was to all say that the processing doors were open because that was their argument - that Ken wasn’t in the rooms on his own with the children - but he was.”

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