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The Press
November 21, 2003
Church payout for dead victim
by Yvonne Martin
A
Christchurch victim of a Catholic sex-abuse scandal is getting $35,000 compensation
-- three years after his death.
The St John of God Order has already paid out more than $4 million to 56 men
abused as boys at its
It is among the latest "pastoral offers" made to 17 men last month.
About half of them have accepted.
The
His younger brother, "Dave" (not his real name), accepted the offer
on his behalf. The money will go into the victim's estate, to be shared among
his children.
In a letter to the Order, Dave thanked it for the offer and an undertaking to
contribute to the children's welfare in future.
"It allows there to be some closure on his life, so he may well rest in
peace," he wrote. "I know he looks down from above and I know he
would approve of everybody's efforts."
The Order also paid for a headstone.
The two brothers were abandoned as children in the 1960s and put into the care
of St John of God at
Dave believed the torment of living with the sexual abuse they both suffered
drove his brother to an early grave.
"He destroyed his life with drugs and he never recovered. The great sadness
for me is that he is not here to see the result," he said.
Dave also received a financial settlement over his abuse complaint earlier this
year.
Brother Peter Burke, the Australasian head of the Order, went beyond the call
of duty to resolve matters, said Dave.
The lawyer for a former St John of God brother charged over alleged sexual
offending at
The Order appeared to have a policy of "you say it and we pay it",
Nigel Hampton, QC, told the Christchurch District Court last month. His client,
Bernard Kevin McGrath, 56, of
Police are investigating another four Sydney-based brothers and a former
brother, also in