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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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A social worker was
alerted to inappropriate touching by a Catholic brother at Marylands school
in the 1970s, a High Court jury in Christchurch has been told. The mother of one of
more than a dozen boys who claim they were sexually molested by Bernard Kevin
McGrath, a dorm master at the St John of God school in Halswell, said her son
disclosed his concerns about indecencies while on holiday. The woman, who cannot
be named to protect the identity of her son, said she did not want to go into
details with her son, a difficult child who had been at the school for
troubled boys since the age of six, out of fear of upsetting him. "I immediately
told a social worker," she said. The results of what
happened after the social worker was alerted were not explained in the
mother's evidence, which was presented to the court in statement form. McGrath, 58, denies
charges of sodomy and indecencies relating to more than a dozen boys at the
school during his years there in the mid 1970s. The jury was told he
has been jailed for sexually abusing boys at the school during the 1970s but
he claims he has admitted the full extent of his offending, which never went
as far as sodomy or oral sex. He also claimed several other Catholic brothers
abused boys at the school. The court also heard
from Detective Earle Borrell, the officer in charge of the investigation, who
said the police became involved after The Press broke the news in 2002 about
abuse at Marylands dating back to the 1950s. Raoul Neave, defending,
put to Borrell that photographs of McGrath had appeared in The Press and then
on television in the 6pm news, the Holmes show, and TVNZ's Sunday programme. He agreed. However, prosecutor
Chris Lange said the stories on the abuse allegations did not give any
specific details. Borrell agreed, saying
most referred only to "indecencies" and not to sodomy. After Borrell's evidence,
the prosecution closed its case. The trial was adjourned
for Justice Chisholm to determine an undisclosed application by Neave. The
defence case will begin today. |
