John Hennessey, former Bindoon boys home resident, talks after giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Perth. Picture: Ross Swanborough Source: News Corp Australia
John Hennessey outside the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Picture: Ross Swanborough Source: News Corp Australia
FOR John Hennessey being robbed of his innocence was not the most unforgivable thing he endured at the hands of the Christian Brothers – it was being robbed of the chance to have children of his own.
For five years he was brutally raped, beaten and emotionally abused by 10 brothers at Bindoon boys home during the 1940s.
Yet it was the after-effects of that abuse that he sees as being the most destructive.
The former Deputy Mayor of Campbeltown Council, who received an OBE for his role following the Granville train disaster, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sex Abuse he was so scarred by his experience at the remote Catholic boys home in WA that he was unable to form any real relationship in his later years.
The commission is investigating how the religious order and successive WA governments responded to allegations of abuse at four Christian Brothers run homes in Bindoon, Clontarf, Tardun and Casltedare.
It has heard boys were routinely tortured, raped and beaten by Christian Brothers in the four WA institutions since the 1950s.
The commission was also told child abusers at the WA Christian Brothers schools knew they could sexually torture children with impunity, safe in the knowledge the state would do nothing.
Choking back tears several times, Mr Hennessey, who was sent to Australia from the UK at just 11 as part of the child migration scheme, recounted the horrific sexual and physical abuse he suffered at the hands of the brothers – the worst of which was by Brother Paul Keaney.
The former teacher, who emigrated to Australia from Ireland, almost beat him to death after he stole grapes from his precious vineyard.
The flogging, which was carried out in front of other boys as well as brothers, was so bad Mr Hennessey developed a stutter as a result.
Brother Keaney beat him regularly with a leather strap with pennies sewn into it. He was also made to perform a range of sexual acts on the brother, which he said he later did willingly after years of abuse by other brothers.
Mr Hennessey told the hearing, Brother Keaney groomed him from the day he arrived, and had such a hold over him that he believed his abuse was a form of affection.
"Brother Keaney kept a pool of pets," he told the hearing. "At the time I didn't understand what he was doing to me. But I felt somehow privileged."
It was only after he left the home that Mr Hennessey said he realised that he had been sexually "exploited and abused by criminals".
Mr Hennessey told the commission the men who abused him during his time at St Joseph's Farm and Trade School in Bindoon felt safe in doing so.
"I was exploited and abused by criminals (who were) safe in the knowledge that the state government and church were my legal guardians, and would never bother to meet their responsibilities," he said.
Mr Hennessey also spoke of being made to being treated "like a leper" when details of his abuse was first made public in the 1970s, and was labelled a child molester and was also beaten up by vigilantes.
He was also questioned by police on a few occassions and as a result he will not have any child in his home unless their parents are with them.
He said he had thought about suicide several times, and was angry the Christian Brothers changed his identity when he arrived to prevent anyone from being able to find him.
But of all the things he was robbed of it was the chance to have children of his own.
"I regret not having children of my own," he said. "I have never had a committed relationship. I did not trust people.
"I had issues with my sexuality. I am the last one in my family. There's no little Hennesseys of my own. This is unforgivable.
"I will go to my grave a tormented person."
John Hennessey outside the Royal Commission. He holds a photo of his mother and a news clipping. Picture: Ross Swanborough Source: News Corp Australia
When Mr Hennessey was first brought to Australia at age 11 he was told he would be able to ride kangaroos to school and there would be lots of fruit.
"From the time I arrived at Bindoon, there was no love," he said.
"I realised there was no kangaroos, there was no fruit."
The Christian Brothers said they wanted to make a man out of him.
"'We don't want you to grow up as Satan's children,'" Mr Hennessey said he was told.
Mr Hennessey did not see his mother for 57 years after he was forcibly removed from Bristol, England, for Australia.
The order changed his name and reduced his age by three years, making it extremely difficult to locate his mother. He eventually met her six years before she died.
Mr Hennessey eventually received about $45,000 from Redress WA, a state government scheme set up to recognise the harm suffered by children in the homes.
But he said changes to the scheme to reduce the maximum amount paid to victims to $45,000 from $80,000 left him feeling betrayed.
Mr Hennessey is one of 11 men who is giving evidence at the public hearing about their experiences at one of the four homes.
NO ONE TO TURN TO
Boys who reported sexual and physical abuse at the hands of WA Christian Brothers were often abused by the brother to whom they complained, the commission was told.
"For some boys, the knowledge of the abuse was well enough understood between the boys, if not necessarily openly discussed," counsel assisting the royal Commission Gail Furness said in her opening statement.
"Other boys never shared their experiences with anyone else. "However, common to all of those men who will give evidence is the shame, guilt and fear that they experienced as a result of the abuse."
At St Vincent's Orphanage in Clontarf, boys would be selected almost nightly by brothers for abuse, said survivor John Wells. A brother would tickle the foot of a sleeping boy as a signal to go to his room.
"The boy would often be crying because he knew what was coming and he knew he was going to be in pain," Mr Wells15 said.
He and his twin brother Arthur were so traumatised they did not physically touch for 70 years – until Mr Wells held Arthur's hand when he was on his deathbed.
Another survivor of Bindoon, Edward Delaney, had the fingers of both hands broken and was left with a permanent disfigurement when a brother - named as Brother Doyle in the commission - hit him repeatedly with a leather strap with a hacksaw blade stitched into it.
Ms Furness named around 15 brothers who brutally raped and tortured hundreds of boys while in their care.
Yet only three have ever been charged in relation to the abuse and only one, Brother Gerard Dick, was convicted.
Another brother, William Marchant, who has not been named in this case study, was charged in 2000 for sexual offences in the 1970s and 1980s at Tarden Farm School. He received a non-custodial sentence.
Over the next two weeks the commission will hear evidence on how the Christian Brothers responded to allegations of abuse.
It will also hear evidence from representatives of the WA government and the acting director of public prosecutions about the department's response to complaints.
The hearing continues.
Tony Costa says he is still angry more than 60 years after he was separated from his family. Picture Theo Fakos Source: News Limited
INQUIRY WILL BRING 'RELEASE, JUSTICE'
Forced child migrants and survivors of abuse at Christian Brothers-run residences in Western Australia say a royal commission will give them a measure of release and justice.
"We want to see justice — justice is the end word," said Tony Costa, who as a child was sent to Bindoon Boys Town in 1953, and went on to become Mayor of Subiaco.
"We don't want the next generation to suffer as we did 60 years ago."
Mr Costa, a spokesman for the International Association of Former Child Migrants, said he was still angry more than 60 years after he was separated from his family.
"One is angry but as the years go on it's like a wine — you mature," he said.
"You have to get on with life. Some poor beggars, some of my fellow survivors, have fallen along the way be it through broken marriages, alcoholism, drugs and so on.
"But each and every one of them has a story to tell and so I don't want to judge anybody harshly."
Today's hearings are the 11th case study by the royal commission examining how Australian institutions responded to child sexual abuse.
The Perth inquiry will investigate the responses of the Christian Brothers and relevant Western Australian State authorities to the abuse allegations at the residences.
It will also look at the experience of people who went through the Catholic Church's Towards Healing process, Redress WA, civil action and/or directly to the Christian Brothers for compensation or assistance.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of the Archdiocese of Perth last week wrote an open letter in which he reiterated his full support for the work of the commission.
In his letter he expressed "horror and deep shame" at what happened and asked forgiveness from those whose lives which had been badly damaged.
Mr Costa said victims had received apologies before by the British government and other institutions.
"How do you right the wrongs of 60 years ago?" he asked. "Words are cheap."
Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) spokeswoman Carolyn Frawley said the royal commission ensures everyone will hear about what people suffered.
"With the royal commission everyone is hearing about it now," she said. "We're not down in the back blocks." Ms Frawley said she wanted laws changed to allow for a longer statute of limitations on child sexual abuse.
"For us, it's a release," she said. "When you're abused as a child it lasts with you forever. Believe me, there are some people who are so angry they can't see the daylight."
