Latrobe Valley Express 11 May 2020

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Restrictions set to ease On the day Victoria’s State ate of Emergency expires, pires, Premier Daniel Andrews drews is poised to announce nounce changes to the restrictions imposed posed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. ndemic. FULL LL STORY - PAGE 3

DAY OF JUSTICE Millions in compensation for sex abuse survivors

By MICHELLE SLATER

THE Marist Brothers paid nearly $4 million in compensation in outof-court settlements and issued an apology to survivors of sex abuse carried out by a serial paedophile at the former St Paul’s College in Traralgon. Brother Gerard McNamara served nine months in prison in 2018 after he pleaded guilty to sex abuse between 1970 and 1975 at the school, which is now known as Lavalla Catholic College. The former St Paul’s principal and sports master is awaiting sentencing after he pleaded guilty to another five

charges including indecent and common assault from the same period. One survivor, who chose to be known as Frank, told The Express he was awaiting a face-to-face apology from the Marist Brothers after years of violent and ongoing abuse from McNamara. “It’s secondary justice, the first thing was getting him in jail, then there was the money.A face-to-face apology would end this for me and I would be able to let go a bit more,� Frank said. Frank was 13 when McNamara began abusing him and he sometimes hid in the science lab to escape the predator.

He estimated the abuse was carried out more than 30 times in five years. “There was penetration. I was a scared little boy lying on a massage table with no clothing on, but I didn’t know what he penetrated me with,� Frank said. “He’d put Dencorub on me and everyone could smell it when I went into the playground so they knew where I had been. “He was a such a violent man, he’d lose his temper and veins would pop out on his forehead.� Frank recalled McNamara inviting himself over on a Friday night and telling his parents “what a good job

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he was doing looking after me�. “I knew what he was doing, but I felt I was at fault, I didn’t want anyone to know as I thought I’d get into trouble,� he said. “But it’s made me a good survivor. It caused me a lot of depression and suicide attempts, one attempt when I was 16. I’ve had nightmares all my life.� Frank hoped his story would empower others to report their own incidents of abuse, as there were still avenues for survivors who hadn’t yet done so.

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