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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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In June 2002 a Press investigation
revealed the St John of God Catholic religious order secretly paid out more
than $300,000 to five former pupils of the Marylands residential school in
Christchurch, who said they were sexually and physically abused in the 1960s
and 1970s. Advocates for the men
described the payments as "hush money" and over following weeks it
emerged numerous other former pupils had made similar complaints. In the years since more
than 125 complaints about historic sexual abuse involving the St John of God
Order have been made and the order has paid out a total of $5.1 million to
Marylands complainants. Four clergy and
brethren from the order have been accused by Christchurch police of historic
child-sex offences at Marylands as far back as 1950s and up to the 1970s. But only one of the
four, Bernard Kevin McGrath, has faced a trial. In March this year he was
found guilty of 21 charges relating to his time at Marylands in the 1970s. It
was the biggest child-sex trial in New Zealand legal history and McGrath is
due to be sentenced this week. The other three remain
in Australia after refusing to return to New Zealand to face the charges. In February last year a
Sydney magistrate ordered Father Raymond Garchow and another man, who has
name suppression, to be extradited. The third man, Brother
William Lebler, now 83, who faced the most serious allegations -- 32 counts
of sexual assault, buggery and sodomy, dating back half a century was judged
"borderline mentally retarded" and too sick to stand trial. He is in the care of an
institution for the elderly. Garchow and the other
man, appealed to the Federal Court last April, arguing extradition would be
unjust and oppressive because of the delay in bringing the charges and the
possibility of collusion between complainants. It took a year for
Justice Rodney Madgwick to prepare and release his decision. |
