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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Press
February 26, 2004

Paid-out ex-pupil denies sexual abuse

An Australian religious order paid a disabled former pupil tens of thousands of dollars compensation for alleged mistreatment at its Christchurch school in the 1970s.

At a depositions hearing in the Christchurch District Court yesterday, the court was told the St John of God order had paid a former pupil who had not claimed sexual abuse.

Bernard Kevin McGrath, 56, faces 33 charges of sexual offending against boys under 16, alleged to have taken place in the 1970s while he was a brother at the Marylands school in Christchurch. Fourteen of the 18 complainants have received payments from St John of God.

However, a former pupil with both physical and intellectual disabilities told the court yesterday that he had never been sexually abused while he was a boarder at the school, between 1971 and 1981.

The man, who now lives in Christchurch with his wife and children, said in cross-examination by defence counsel Nigel Hampton, QC, that he was paid compensation around Christmas. He agreed with Hampton's description of it as a "considerable sum of money" for alleged mistreatment.

In separate evidence, the mother of a complainant told the court she knew nothing of her son's alleged sexual abuse while he was a pupil at the school for disabled boys between 1974 and 1980.

"He used to get upset sometimes about going back to school," said the mother, whose name was supressed to protect her son's identity.

But in cross-examination she told the court she knew of nothing "untoward".

"No, I would have taken him away if I had," she said.