Marist Brothers Hamilton<\/span><\/a> has a horrific history of child sexual abuse.<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse<\/span> heard from 11 survivors who were sexually abused at Marist Brothers Hamilton in the 1960s and 1970s \u2014 seven claimed to have been abused by more than one Brother.<\/span><\/p>\n Over 20 police statements were made by others who claimed they were sexually abused by Brother Patrick, Brother Dominic, Brother Christopher and Brother Romuald. Again, some were abused by more than one of these men.<\/span><\/p>\n The abuse occurred in public, in classrooms and in the playground in full view of other students and sometimes even teachers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Little was done to stop it from happening \u2014 in fact, nothing was done to stop it. The school\u2019s principal was an offender himself and withheld information from the police in order to protect the ring of paedophiles that operated within the school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In this article, we expose the horrors of Marist Brothers Hamilton and the paedophile predators who worked there.<\/span><\/p>\n At least eight Brothers who worked at Marist Brothers Hamilton before 1986 have been convicted of child sexual offences. The Marist Brothers Order has accepted at least another four teachers sexually abused students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Below, we have exposed some of the worst offenders at the school: <\/span>Brother Romuald<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Brother Dominic<\/span><\/a>, Brother Patrick and <\/span>Brother Christopher<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Cable was at Marist Brothers Hamilton between 1971 and 1974. In this short span of time, he was able to inflict terrible physical and psychological damage on his students \u2014 he used his role as a technical drawing teacher and class master to rape, molest and beat vulnerable children aged 13 and 14.<\/span><\/p>\n Cable would <\/span>threaten the students<\/span><\/a> with violence, expulsion and social isolation if they reported the abuse. He would also <\/span>reference quasi-religious doctrine<\/span><\/a> and once told a victim <\/span>\u201cyou have the mark of the devil on you \u2014 I need to get it out of you and this is how I have to do it\u201d <\/span><\/i>after raping them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n His crimes have been described as \u201cabominable\u201d and in 2015, Cable was sentenced to a maximum of 16 years in jail with a non-parole period of eight years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n O\u2019Sullivan was at Marist Brothers Hamilton between 1971 and 1977. He was known to abuse students in plain sight, even in front of other students in the classroom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n O\u2019Sullivan was jailed in 2016 for abusing more than a dozen students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Butler was at Marist Brothers Hamilton between 1970 and 1980, although he had an earlier placement at the school between 1963 and 1964.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Butler retired in 2001 after an 11-year-old Ashgrove College (Brisbane) student said he was <\/span>sexually abused while sitting at his desk during a math class<\/span><\/a>. Butler was charged with sexual abuse but in 2002, the Brisbane jury was <\/span>directed to enter a \u201cnot guilty\u201d verdict<\/span><\/a> after the Crown case was heard.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Marist Brothers Order claimed there was no record of complaints about Butler before 1991 but survivors have flatly rejected this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Wade was the principal of Marist Brothers Hamilton during the 1970s. He was appointed to the school as a teacher and deputy principal in 1969, before taking over as principal in 1971. He remained in this role until 1976.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When he became principal, he also became Superior to the Marist Brothers community, making him a leader of sorts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 2017, Wade was convicted of indecently assaulting two boys at Marist Brothers Hamilton and Kogarah Marist School. A female supporter hissed at the survivors: <\/span>\u201cyou rotten sods\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/a> when the decision was handed down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The first boy was abused when he was sent to the principal\u2019s office when he was feeling sick. Wade said: <\/span>\u201ccome and sit on my knee darling, and tell me all about it\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/a>. <\/span><\/i>Wade proceeded to put his hand down the boy’s pants and fondled his genitals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The second boy was abused at Kogarah Marist School and was sent to the principal\u2019s office with severe pain \u2014 he had twisted a testicle. Wade asked to see the boy\u2019s genitals and said words to the effect of <\/span>\u201cthis might help you\u201d <\/span><\/i>before putting the boy\u2019s penis in his mouth<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He was sentenced to 18 months in jail but it wasn\u2019t over for Wade.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2014, Wade failed to provide information to NSW Police Force\u2019s Strike Force Georgiana during an investigation into Marist Brothers Hamilton. He was acting in his own best interests \u2014 Wade was a known homosexual in breach of his vow of chastity and if this information was leaked, he would lose his job and be asked to leave the Marist Brothers Order.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2020, Wade was <\/span>sentenced to four months imprisonment<\/span><\/a> in the community.<\/span><\/p>\n A survivor known as CQP (name concealed for privacy) attended Hamilton\u2019s Marist Brother High School from 1970 to 1975. He was subjected to <\/span>regular physical and sexual abuse<\/span><\/a> at the hands of O\u2019Sullivan, Butler, Cable and a fourth brother named Brother Cassian, who CQP described as<\/span> \u201cfrighteningly brutal\u201d<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He told the Commission that he and other students were often <\/span>beaten by Brother Cassian<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n “He had a thick black belt, like a strap, that he would use and he would also punch us in the rib cage using a pointed fist,” said CQP.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n “These were not isolated incidents of violence \u2014 they occurred regularly \u2014 we used to call him Bashin’ Cassian.”<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n On one occasion, Brother Cassian slapped CQP around the head and shoulders and then belted him so hard that <\/span>he fell to the floor<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “His response was totally out of proportion for what was a very minor offence. This was a level of humiliation, fear and violence that no 12-year-old boy should be subjected to. I recall that some parents actually removed their children from the school because of the physical abuse.”<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n CQP was also abused by Cable (his football coach) and Butler (his mathematics teacher). However, O\u2019Sullivan (his technical drawing teacher) was the worst offender. CQP had classes with O\u2019Sullivan four or five times a week and CQP was <\/span>abused or witnessed abuse<\/span><\/a> in most of those classes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “On multiple occasions over those two years [1972 and 1973], Brother Dominic came up behind me and rubbed his erection against my hip and lower back,” he said.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n “He also stood next to or over me and put his hand down my shirt and rubbed my breast area, he also ran his hands up my legs towards my thighs.”<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In 1996, O\u2019Sullivan was <\/span>appointed principal at St Francis Xavier\u2019s College <\/span><\/a>(formerly Marist Brothers High School) but the offer was quickly withdrawn after complaints from the public \u2014 including CQP.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “At the time, one of my children was about to start school at St Francis Xavier’s College and it really shook me that this man could be back there,” CQP said.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n CQP told two people about the abuse he experienced: <\/span>Father Peter Brock <\/span><\/a>(charged with 22 offences involving child sexual abuse in 2008) and the director of Newcastle\u2019s Catholic Education Office, Michael Bowman.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bowman was shocked and said, \u201cwith what you\u2019ve just told me, this man can\u2019t come here\u201d. He then took CQP\u2019s complaints to Bishop Michael Malone and the provincial Michael Hill, who soon called CQP to discuss the matter.<\/span><\/p>\n “I then proceeded to tell him what Brother Dominic had done to me. I told him Brother Dominic should not be appointed [principal], both because of what he’d done and because of the objections that were likely to be made by others.”<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Beatings were common at Marist Brothers Hamilton. The teachers were cruel and hit the children with their <\/span>fists, straps, canes, cricket bats, books<\/span><\/a> or whatever happened to be in their hands at the time. The boys were beaten for the smallest crimes like not doing their homework, talking in class, not wearing their uniforms right and \u201cnot trying\u201d in class.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A survivor known as CVN told the Commissioners that the \u201charsh discipline meant that all of the boys at school were scared of the Brothers and it made it virtually impossible to report anything\u201d. The boys were literally beaten into submission and silence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Another survivor said:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe physical abuse in the form of the harsh punishment, the canings, the grabbing kids around the neck and by the tie and strangling them and punching them ensured that we were constantly in fear of our teachers and this enabled them to get away with it. We were too scared to stand up to them and say, \u2018No, what you are doing is wrong\u2019,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u201cWe knew in our hearts that it was wrong \u2014 that they didn\u2019t have the right to put their hands down our pants and do things like that but we were too scared to do anything about it and the only avenue that we had to protect ourselves were passive means like doing your belt up tight and sitting next to the window so that you weren\u2019t immediately accessible.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Intimidation was not just reserved for students. Wade was the principal between 1971 and 1976 and when he received a complaint from a student about Cable, he was <\/span>\u201cextremely anxious and nervous\u201d about confronting the offender<\/span><\/a>. Wade said that Cable was a \u201cvery physically dominating and intimidating character\u201d and that Cable aimed to intimidate and frighten people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This speaks volumes about the kind of fear the students experienced every day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Scores of former students of Marist Brothers Hamilton have suffered due to the actions of Cable, O\u2019Sullivan, Butler and Wade.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Some have reported feeling a <\/span>Paedophile Marist Brothers who tormented children at the school<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Francis William Cable or \u201cBrother Romuald\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Brother Darcy O\u2019Sullivan or \u201cBrother Dominic\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Brother Patrick Butler or \u201cBrother Patrick\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Brother William Wade or \u201cBrother Christoper\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
CQP was subjected to \u201chumiliation, fear and violence\u201d at Hamilton\u2019s Marist Brothers High School<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u201cAll of the boys were scared of the Brothers and made it virtually impossible to report anything\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
It\u2019s not too late to seek justice for what happened at Marist Brothers Hamilton<\/strong><\/h2>\n