Masked Brothers create symbol of Australian child-sex abuse victims ahead of Vivian Deboo’s sentence appeal
Their innocence was stolen by a predator. Now, Adelaide’s Masked Brothers are fighting for the 1.4 million Australians who have suffered — and to spare future kids that same abuse.
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- EDITORIAL: We must never be silent about child-sex abuse
- ‘This is our army’: Brave brothers confront child sex predator
- Monster’s Walk: Paedophile takes ‘walk of shame’ into court
- Challenge: Predator Deboo files appeal for home detention
- Court reserves decision on fate of sex predator Deboo
The battle with their personal demon ends on Monday but, for Adelaide’s masked brothers, the war will not end until all child sex predators serve their full prison terms behind bars.
On Sunday, “A” and “B” transformed Montefiore Hill into a “field of lost innocence” symbolising the 1.4 million Australians who have been victimised by paedophiles.
The brothers said raising awareness, and strengthening laws, was now their focus — regardless of whether their tormentor, Vivian Frederick Deboo, wins a home detention sentence on Monday.
“Our message to everyone — not just lawmakers, but to mums, dads, footy coaches, the entire community — is ‘don’t walk past child abuse’,” said B.
“Sexual abuse is a silent killer … victims aren’t murdered but they forever suffer from trauma and psychological issues that can ruin lives and lead to early deaths.
“If 1.4 million Australians were affected by a flu strain, or by cancer, it would be an absolute number one public health priority — just as we believe child abuse should be.”
Deboo, 74, was a caterer and church leader when he sexually assaulted the brothers and other boys in the 1990s, falsely claiming their parents had sanctioned the abuse.
His victims are, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, among the 5 per cent of men around the country who suffered sexual abuse before the age of 15.
Together with the 11 per cent of women who endured the same crimes, an estimated 1,400,100 Australians were victimised as children.
Of those, 58 per cent — or 817,000 — were abused for the first time before the age of 10.
Deboo is currently in prison serving a six-year, seven-month and six-day prison term and will not be eligible to seek release until 2024, when he will be 80.
He has asked the Full Court of the Court of Criminal Appeal to order that term be served on home detention instead, citing his age and early guilty plea.
The State Government responded with a Bill that banned paedophiles from serving home detention, which blocked the Opposition’s own draft legislation on the issue.
That Bill has since passed both houses of Parliament and is now state law — creating the possibility that, even if Deboo’s appeal succeeds, he will remain in prison.
Lawyers for the Government argued, during Deboo’s last court appearance, he did not qualify for home detention under the new law.
They further argued he did not qualify under the previous law, either, meaning his appeal should be dismissed.
On Sunday, the brothers placed 1400 paper boys and girls — cut out by them and their family — to stand for the nation’s 1.4 million abuse survivors.
B said the years-long battle to secure Deboo’s conviction had been “destructive” for himself, his brother and their entire family.
“Even making this field took an emotional toll on us, but one thing that’s given us strength to carry on is the support we’ve received from the community,” he said.
“We’ve been hearing our story retold by family, friends and co-workers who don’t realise it’s us, and hearing other victims have been inspired to come forward and fight their fights.
“But the biggest thing that spurs us both on is that, as parents ourselves, we don’t want to see any other children in our state or our country exposed to this crime.”
He said the rapid change in legislation, as well as last week’s mooted abolition of the automatic suppression of sex predators’ identities, showed growing community awareness.
“In some ways, the outcome of the appeal — whether Deboo spends his full sentence in jail or not — is irrelevant,” he said.
“What’s going to protect children is our community remembering abuse happens, continuing to talk it and doing something about it by lobbying politicians about sentencing.
“It’s a silent killer, it really is, and we have to make sure people never just walk past it.”
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