rhino wrote on Jul 16
th, 2017 at 10:56am:
cods wrote on Jul 16
th, 2017 at 10:30am:
well at least you found something interesting in the thread..
to me this man has led a life of torment and be unable to talk to anyone about it....he probably didnt even really understand what drove him to destruction...and now he is in the newspaper picture and story out there......
I am sorry you dont see him as hero....but I trust you are the only one..
I see this as a changing life for John and blimey doesnt he at least deserve that?..
I see him as a
victim Cods., a victim of a predator.
this is it they are not victims in my eyes....
they dont want pity
they want justice and to know they did nothing to deserve this..
its hard for any of us to even come close to understanding his life since it happened.....
but to suddenly come forward
and have someone listen to his story and to believe him must be an all consuming relief..
I think hes a HERO this is why.
It’s the typical life of a victim and heartbreakingly similar to all the child victims who are now suing the Revesby Catholic school for their alleged abuse in the 1970s and ’80s.
They too had suffered at the hands of Anselm, who was allegedly moved from a school in Melbourne to Revesby following complaints of sexual abuse there. Some allege they were abused by other teachers at the school.Comerford was raped at his school after a teacher caught him eating the holy bread. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
At the forefront of these cases is Jason Parkinson, of Porters Lawyers, who this week labelled the school a “
hotspot of paedophilia in Sydney” back then.
“Men have complained to us that
Br Anselm would routinely molest the entire class of children by having t
hem stand up at the side of their desk, and have them unbutton their shorts and then go from one child to the next,” he said.
“There are scores of men who are suffering from the serious psychiatric injuries of childhood sexual abuse.
“Everyone we meet has had
suicidal ideations, a large number have actually planned their suicide and many have attempted it and been fortunate to have failed.”
Mr Parkinson is handling more than
1500 cases against independent schools in NSW, including Trinity Grammar, Knox Grammar, St Patrick’s at Goulburn and Newington College.
The Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses To Child Sex Abuse, which launched in 2013, is expected to hand down its final report in December.
Mr Comerford only recently learnt Anselm was actually still
alive at the time he visited the school in 1983, the teacher dying years later at age 92.Now working as a fly-in fly-out employee in Western Australia, Mr Comerford said he knew it was for the better that he had spent decades thinking his abuser was dead.
However, learning Anselm had allegedly been moved from school to school following complaints had shattered him.
“If I had known earlier, I probably would have done something earlier,” he said.
“As soon as I read that, I rang the solicitor straight away.”
I had been dependent on either drugs or alcohol for much of my life. Last year I was finally diagnosed with severe depression, severe anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder
Responding to Mr Comerford’s story, De La Salle reiterated its “unreserved apology to those who have suffered as a result of abuse endured at any of our facilities”.
“What happened in the past is unacceptable and inexcusable,” it said.
The 52-year-old said the best thing he ever did was finally talk about his assault, something he never shared, even with his mum, before she died.He said meeting a good counsellor had been a key on his road to getting healthy, along with the love he had received from his four children and partner. “Life is still a struggle, however I have reconnected with my family, who have been fantastic about it all. I have a really supportive partner and a great counsellor who I can talk to about what is going on,” he said.
“I am hoping my story does two things: firstly inspires others to come forward, because I
honestly believed I was the only one, and secondly to get closure. I want the school to acknowledge they knew he was a paedophile and moved him to my school knowing that. T
hat will leave me knowing I have done everything that I can to protect the 11-year-old version of me.” rhino that would have taken so much courage for him to come forward he was unable to tell his mum....