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Accusations of Abuse in
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The Press
February 27, 2004
'Abuse complaint met with severe thrashing'
by Jarrod Booker
A
boy at a Christchurch St John of God school had to be dragged kicking and
screaming back to school after holiday breaks, his mother told a court
yesterday.
The mother was giving evidence at a Christchurch District Court depositions
hearing into charges against a former brother at the
Bernard Kevin McGrath faces 33 charges of sexual offending against boys at the
school and was yesterday committed for trial. He was released on bail to a pre-
trial conference in the High Court in
McGrath is accused of offending against 18 boys under the age of 16 during his
time as a brother at the
In the final day of the depositions hearing yesterday, the mother of one of the
alleged victims said she had written to the school to express concern about her
son's complaints about touching of his private parts.
When her son returned to his
"He said he had got a terrible thrashing. From that point on we had
terrible difficulty getting him back on the plane to return to school. He would
scream and physically resist so we had to hold him and more or less drag him to
the plane."
She said her son spoke to her only once of being abused.
"He wrote to me on one occasion saying that abuse was taking place,"
said the mother, whose name is suppressed.
"And when I read the letter I was wondering if it had been something like
after-hours, lights-out pranks or some other person outside the school
interfering with him."
The abuse he referred to was "his private parts being touched".
The school did not respond to her letter of concern, she said.
Asked by McGrath's defence counsel Nigel Hampton, QC, if she still had the
letter claiming the abuse, the mother said she had disposed of it.
When asked by