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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Press
December 9, 2003

Jail over false abuse claim
by Dean Calcott

One man has been jailed and another remanded for sentence after both admitted making false sexual-abuse allegations against a religious order.

Justin Todd Richardson, 35, was jailed for a year yesterday on charges of fraud and making a false statement alleging he had been abused while attending a school run by the St John of God order.

He had earlier received a payout from the order of more than $100,000.

Defence counsel Gerald Lascelles told the Christchurch District Court Richardson, who was a first offender, had a long psychiatric history, his doctor saying he was a deeply disturbed person.

He had in fact suffered sexual abuse in a traumatic childhood. Richardson had been frank with police and he was very remorseful.

The offending was not motivated by greed, but by personal circumstances and pressure from others to get money. Richardson received no personal profit, the money going instead into the pockets of people who took advantage of him.

In one case he had paid for a car whose owner now refused to return it.

"He had had little to gain other than a bitter learning experience," Mr Lascelles said.

Judge Phil Moran said Richardson had attended the St John of God's Marylands School for three years. Once it became known there had been claims from former pupils of abuse, he joined in.

Richardson had claimed he was abused by two brothers and a staff member, and that he needed money for counselling and medical treatment arising from the alleged abuse.

"It seems you got involved in a group which had made genuine claims, and then carried out a prominent role in the group."

Richardson had initially been offered $65,000 by the order, but turned it down on the basis it was not enough, and ultimately got a payment of $95,000 plus expenses, taking it to over $101,000.

"There are flow-on consequences," the judge said. "Victims of sexual abuse, whose complaints are often greeted with scepticism, are not helped. You breached the trust of the order and the genuine complainants you associated with."

Crown prosecutor Lisa Preston said Richardson had victimised three groups of people: the alleged abusers, the order which had been trying to sort out legitimate matters, and the genuine complainants still being investigated.

Judge Moran said on the plus side he accepted Richardson was genuinely sorry, and had gained little or nothing. He also accepted Richardson was a genuine victim of sexual abuse, but not by anyone at the St John of God order.

It was a mitigating factor that he had already paid reparation of $30,000. The order had forgiven Richardson and did not seek any more reparation, the judge said.

He was granted leave to apply for home detention and, on his release from jail, to take counselling as directed by probation officers.

Meanwhile, a second St John of God pupil has pleaded guilty to falsely claiming he was sexually abused while at the school.

John Kevin Fenn, 39, a sickness beneficiary, claimed he was repeatedly molested during eight years at the Halswell school in the 1970s and sought a payout from the religious order.

Fenn was told he had to make a complaint with the police and begin counselling before he could get a payout from St John of God.

Sergeant Chris White told the Christchurch District Court that Fenn claimed to police that he had been indecently assaulted by a brother at Marylands from 1972 to 1980.

But detectives found "serious inconsistencies" in his account and challenged his story, which he admitted inventing because he needed money to pay bills, the court heard.

Inquiries showed Fenn was only at the school for a little over a year in 1977 and 1978, when he became a pupil because of learning and discipline difficulties at home.

Judge Patricia Costigan remanded Fenn on bail to be sentenced next year.