Hawke's Bay Today

Historic abuse: Former Catholic brother sentenced

Catholic church to investigat­e how claims were stifled

- Sahiban Hyde

The Catholic Church is launching an independen­t inquiry after claims an offer of $5000 of “silence money” was made to a victim of a Marist brother’s child sex offending.

Yesterday, Kevin Peter John Healy, 81, formerly known as Brother Gordon, was sentenced in the Napier District Court to nine months’ home detention, for sexually abusing three Wairarapa children.

Among them, a victim who was a young girl back in the 1970s, who has opened up to Hawke’s Bay Today about why she went public with her story.

“The $5000 meant that I would not talk about what happened now, or in the future,” she claimed.

“It was an offer to make me go away, silence money. So, naturally, I am talking.”

In February, Healy pleaded guilty to charges of indecency between a man and boys aged 12 and 13, and one of indecency with a girl aged under 12.

The girl was aged under 10 and the boys were of adolescent age at the time of the offending in 1976-1977.

It was revealed through the course of the sentencing Healy had previous conviction­s for similar offending in the 1970s.

The offending occurred when Healy was a member of the Marist Brothers in 1976 and 1977, in Wairarapa. He was also a teacher at the time.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in primary school and Healy was a “trusted member of the clergy, to me and my family”.

Known as Brother Gordon to her and her brother, who was also a victim, she said he was “particular­ly sneaky” about his assaults and he was psychologi­cally abusive towards her about being “so ugly for a girl”.

“He reiterated it each time he saw me. This torture has affected my entire life. My parents have suffered as they were members of our parish.

“Nothing seems to help them recover from the trust they gave to Healy in his position as a clergyman by allowing him to ‘say our prayers’ at night.”

In one of his visits to her home, he entered her bedroom one night, wrapped her in his arms and demanded a kiss.

Despite her fear, she refused, responding only with a kiss on his cheek as he pinned her to her bed with his arm across her body, before he demanded a “proper” kiss and forcefully kissed her on the mouth for several seconds.

At other times, in saying good night to her brother, Healy would put his hand down the boy’s pyjama pants.

She said the abuse was reported by her father to the parish priest and the school principal.

“At that time, the Marist brothers taught and stayed on the school premises,” she said. “The church just moved Healy out of the school and area.”

She said she spent years trying to get traction with the case.

“Healy denied even knowing our family, let alone sexually assaulting us. He was officially asked by the Catholic Church back in 2003, after I had been through the reconcilia­tion process offered by the church at that time,” she said.

“Healy, who was known to me as Br Gordon, denied everything. I then, after much anguish, went through the legal system, resulting in charges being laid.”

She claimed the process started three to four years ago, with Healy stalling the justice system.

The church was also not willing to take any action during the process, she said.

“The church decided to take up the statute of limitation­s law which states that I had until I was 10 years old to bring a case to the church.

“It is a ludicrous law which is no longer in use in Australia as, with historical clergy, sex abuse in children is more often than not hidden until that child is older.”

In February 2020, a change of heart led Healy to enter guilty pleas to the charges.

The Catholic Church, however, did not accept any responsibi­lity, she said.

“They offered a $5000 token if I signed a waiver not to talk.”

She said through it all she could not fault the effort, compassion and care the police had shown her and her family.

“The thing is, as a victim, we are called over and over again to be brave, have a voice but in reality, my experience has been one of the Catholic Church trying to shut me down at every opportunit­y.

"The church decided to take up the statute of limitation­s law which states that I had until I was 10 years old to bring a case to the church."

“Yes, I’m still a practising Catholic. However . . . opening my mouth to seek justice has been a very difficult journey.”

The Catholic Church’s National Office for Profession­al Standards (NOPS) director, Virginia Noonan, said the Marist Brothers order had asked her to arrange an independen­t review after Hawke’s Bay Today’s inquiries.

“The review will look how the Marists dealt with her complaints which will include the circumstan­ces relating to the offer of an ex-gratia payment of $5000.

“It will look at all aspects of how the Marists dealt with her complaints of being abused as a child by Kevin Healy and Michael Beaumont in the 1970s, when they were Marist brothers and teachers in the Wairarapa,” Noonan said.

Beaumont was sentenced in North

Shore District court in September 2019 to home detention after pleading guilty to abusing three children in the 1970s.

Noonan said the female victim made formal complaints against the two men, including Healy, in 2003 to the Marist Brothers’ own abuse protocol body, but the complaints were not upheld when the men denied them.

“Now that both men have admitted their abuse, including the abuse the victim complained of, it is highly appropriat­e to scrutinise the Marist investigat­ion.

“Hopefully, the review will go a long way to getting resolution for the victim for what has been a long, painful and distressin­g part of her life. The Church has zero tolerance for harm and abuse.”

NOPS is an agency of the Mixed

Commission, a partnershi­p between the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference and Congregati­on Leaders Conference of Aotearoa New Zealand.

“We will get an outside reviewer to look thoroughly at what was done and not done with the female victim’s complaints,” said Noonan.

“The church has nothing but compassion and regret for what happened to her. It is deeply disturbing that her ordeal has gone on for so many decades.”

Meanwhile, a male victim in court to witness yesterday’s sentencing, describing the sentence as “a bit light”, told Hawke’s Bay Today afterwards that while he had told his wife over the years about what had happened, he did not disclose anything to the police until after media coverage of Healy’s arrest.

He said he could not let what appeared to be a single female victim be “on her own” in the prosecutio­n and his revelation­s were motivated by the need for her to know she was not alone.

At court, Healy was wearing a face mask and allowed to sit in the mainly empty public gallery as defence counsel Scott Jefferson, appearing via audiovisua­l link, sought the home detention sentence. He said his client was a “suitable candidate” and that if the offending had been considered at the time of the previous sentencing, the outcome would have been similar.

Crown prosecutor Fiona Cleary highlighte­d the number of victims, the abuse of trust, the other offending that occurred about the same time, and Healy’s lack of remorse as aggravatin­g features in addition to the actual offending.

Reports showed Healy claimed to have no memory of the offences, but Judge Rea was doubtful.

Judge Rea said the offences were persistent and caused considerab­le damage to the people into their adult lives, as revealed in what he said were among the most comprehens­ive victim impact statements he had ever read.

The families were staunch members of the church and an aggravatin­g factor was that Healy had taken advantage of the very high trust the community had in him, Judge Rea said.

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 ?? PHOTO / PAUL TAYLOR ?? Former Marist brother Kevin Healy has avoided jail for historic sex offences.
PHOTO / PAUL TAYLOR Former Marist brother Kevin Healy has avoided jail for historic sex offences.

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