institutional sexual abuse

Father Roger Michael Bellemore was a teacher, carer and priest for the students at Marist College Burnie convicted of child sexual abuse

Brother Stephen Farrell abused children in his care. He was a member of the Christian Brothers, a Catholic religious order, and worked at schools across Australia.

Notorious convicted paedophile and former Christian Brother Ted Bales has been sentenced to a further seven and a half years in jail after pleading guilty to an additional 33 charges of indecent assault against another 19 students in the 1970s and 1980s.

If you assumed the ordeal for child sex abuse victims somehow ended with the McClelland Royal Commission into institutional Responses set up by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2013 then Andrew Coffey’s case is proof of how wrong that it is. Republished with the kind permission of Crikey Investigations Editor David Hardaker.

In cases of Institutional Sexual Abuse an institution is defined an organisation that was founded for a religious, educational, professional, or social purpose.

New reforms in NSW law mean that courts can redress unfair settlements forced on child sexual abuse survivors by churches and other institutions and lift restrictions on them speaking out publicly.

Koffels Law firm is seeking witnesses to alleged child sexual abuse perpetrated by Stuart Hawkins who was a teacher of Parramatta Marist High School between 1975 and 1993.

In coming months, victims who settled historical abuse claims in NSW pre-2016 will be able to have their agreements reviewed by Courts to assess whether they were unfairly small.

Conviction of Brother Dacian aka Kevin Jewell from Marist Brothers Eastwood can help other victims of institutional child sexual abuse find their voice.