|
|
Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
|
|
|
|
Child-welfare groups
are demanding a full government investigation into institutional care in New Zealand
to prevent a repeat of rampant sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and brethren
at a Christchurch home for troubled boys. Disgraced former
Catholic brother Bernard Kevin McGrath, 58, was found guilty by a High Court
jury in Christchurch on Thursday of 21 child-sex charges dating back to the
1970s. Three other former Catholic brothers at Marylands school are also
accused of being part of sexual abuse there spanning 30 years. Children's Commissioner
Cindy Kiro yesterday added her voice to calls for a full inquiry similar to
that done by the Australian Senate, which produced a damning report in 2004
about the standards of care in church and state institutions. Male Survivors of
Sexual Abuse Trust manager Ken Clearwater, who represents about 40 men who claim
they were sexually abused at Marylands, said similar sexual abuse was still
happening in institutions in New Zealand and needed to be uncovered by a
formal inquiry. So far, his calls have
failed to sway the Government to act. "This is
important. I'm seeing kids in care now who are saying things are happening to
them – the same things that happened with St John of God," he said,
referring to the Catholic order that ran Marylands. The St John of God
order now accepts that several Catholic clergy and brethren were sexually
abusing boys at Marylands but Clearwater said the verdicts on McGrath were
not the end of the issue. "It's only the
beginning. We have to look at why this was allowed to happen and why it was
allowed to continue for 30 years," he said. Kiro said it was the
right time to look into how children are cared for in institutions in New
Zealand and in particular ensure they are able to complain about physical or
sexual abuse. McGrath's trial had
been told that a senior Catholic brother to whom children tried to complain
about sexual abuse was also a child molester, protecting the network of child
molesters and allowing the abuse to continue for years. Kiro expected that a
full inquiry in New Zealand would produce similar results to the one by the
Australian Senate, which found some offenders were protected by the system
and not brought to account. "I think what
would come up would be confirmation of the need to actually create some
mechanisms that children feel safe enough to disclose at the time that abuse
is happening," she said. "This is about
abuse of power between adults and children, in institutional settings
especially. One of the things that happens in historical cases particularly
is children aren't believed when they make allegations. "We know that most
sex offenders who offend against children have been sexually offended against
as children too. It creates a cycle that damages so many people's lives and
it has to be stopped." Ruth Dyson, the
minister responsible for Child Youth and Family, was not able to be contacted
for comment yesterday. Chris McIsaac,
spokesman for Australian lobby group Broken Rites, said it had had to lobby
to get the Australian Senate to probe institutional care in that country but
had been vindicated by the results. |
