'Hell on earth': State and church enabled child sex abuse, damning report finds

Wednesday, 2 August 2023

Graphic content

Hell on earth – a place where vulnerable children were subjected to depravity, sexual, physical and spiritual violence while the state looked away.

That’s the description in a damning new report of the Marylands School and the associated Hebron Trust run in Ōtautahi Christchurch from the 1950s to the 1980s by the Brothers of St John of God.

The report, titled Stolen Lives, Marked Souls, is part of the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry and was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.

It details the horrors of the abuse suffered by many of the young boys in the care of the brothers, their desperation to be believed and helped, and the “shameful” failure of the state and the Catholic Church to act. The victims were as young as 5.

“We are aware of no other circumstances or institution where the sexual abuse has been so extreme or has involved such a high proportion of perpetrators over the same extended period of time as that at Marylands School,” inquiry chairperson Coral Shaw said.

Her findings say parents sent their children to be cared for by the brothers, often on advice of the state, believing it was the best place for them. Many had learning or behavioural difficulties.

Instead, survivors experienced extreme abuse and neglect with lifelong consequences, Shaw said.

“Devastatingly, many (survivors) grew up to suffer painful, life-long physical injuries and illnesses caused by the abuse and neglect. Many survivors contemplated or even attempted suicide. Tragically, some have lost their lives this way.

“When children reported abuse, they were not believed. Not believed by social workers, police, the brothers or the Catholic Church.”

Two of the brothers were convicted of child sexual abuse – one remains in prison in Australia and the second has died. Other brothers accused were considered unfit to stand trial.

The report said although the state registered and financially supported Marylands as a special school, it failed to protect the boys and put a stop to the atrocities due to a lack of oversight of the brothers operating the school. In the 1970s, a quarter of the pupils were state wards.

Boys were referred to the Hebron Trust by police, the courts, and other social agencies.

The report said the Government did not adequately monitor state wards at the school and trust, state welfare staff did not audit the school, and many survivors had no memory of contact with a social worker while there.

Evidence shows the Crown may well have breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi and human rights obligations, it said.

“Survivors have suffered for years and been robbed of their potential because those who were meant to care for them shamefully enabled the abuse, ignored it or covered it up,” Shaw said.

“Without accountability, there can be no confidence that such events will not be able to occur again.”

The report found the state, the Catholic Church, and the Order of St John of God have never been held accountable for their role in the abuse, or for failing to address the harm.

“When children did disclose abuse to police and social workers, they were not believed,” the report said.

Of the 537 boys who attended Marylands School in the suburb of Halswell, more than one in five (118) reported abuse while in the school's care. The report said the true number is likely to be much higher.

Children at the church’s adjacent St Joseph’s orphanage were also abused, after being handed by the nuns who ran it to the brothers for discipline.

Of the 37 brothers from the order who worked in the Christchurch community and Marylands, 21 had allegations of some form of abuse made against them.

Early complaints about abuse at the home, most relating to the 1970s, led to the order moving the brothers to other locations and paying financial settlements to victims in return for their silence.

The most prolific offender was Bernard McGrath, now 76, who has been convicted of more than 100 sexual abuse offences in New Zealand and Australia. He has been in prison since 2018 and will likely spend the rest of his life incarcerated.

McGrath previously served a prison sentence in New Zealand in the early 1990s for abuse at Marylands and later the Hebron Trust, and another from 2006 for abuse of children between 7 and 15 years old at Marylands.

Marylands’ former principal, Roger Moloney, was sentenced in 2008 in New Zealand to two years and nine months’ imprisonment on seven counts of sexual abuse of five children. He served 13 months before being deported to Australia, and died in 2019.

The royal commission’s hearings into the abuse by the brothers and the aftermath were held last year.

Among those giving evidence was Liz Tonks of the Network for Survivors of Abuse in Faith Based Institutions, who described Marylands as “in reality, a state supported church-run brothel that serviced the needs of paedophiles and the children were essentially sex slaves and labourers”.

Some of the survivors give evidence of being made to watch young animals being killed, and being threatened the same would happen to them if they did not keep quiet.

One survivor told the inquiry of being placed and supervised at the Hebron Trust as a teenager, by what was then the Social Welfare Department. From the age of 15 to 19, he was regularly bound, gagged, blindfolded and raped by McGrath, mostly in the monastery sleeping quarters.

“He became violent, sometimes choking me. I often thought I was going to die,” the man said in his evidence.

As an adult, the man joined a gang, served time in prison, and lived on the streets.

Survivors from Marylands told the inquiry sometimes two or more brothers abused a child at the same time, or made boys perform acts on each other in front of the brothers. Abuse happened not only behind closed doors, but in sight of other children as a punishment or threat.

“Children were threatened and physically beaten into complying with he wishes of the brothers and lived in constant fear,” the report said.

The report details the harm done to survivors including physical injury and physical and mental health problems, self-harm and suicide, criminal offending and addiction including substance abuse, struggles with sexual and gender identity, financial hardship and homelessness, lack of education, an inability to trust and difficulties in personal relationships.

“This is not a story about ‘bad apples’,” the report said.

“This report spotlights that the Catholic Church, the order and state must each bear responsibility for the tūkino that was suffered by so many boys, the impacts on their lives, and their whānau and their support networks, because it was the church, the order and state systems and institutions that shamefully enabled the abuse and ignored it or covered it up.”

Sexual violence: where to get help

• Rape Crisis 0800 88 33 00, click link for local helplines.

• Victim Support 0800 842 846.

• Safetalk text 4334, phone 0800 044 334 webchat safetotalk.nz or email support@safetotalk.nz.

• The Harbour Online support and information for people affected by sexual abuse.

• Women’s Refuge 0800 733 843

• Male Survivors Aotearoa Helplines across NZ, click to find out more (males only).

• If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 111.

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