Ex-student’s mammoth legal action against St Kevin’s and St Joseph’s
The acting principal of St Kevin’s College has met with an 85-year-old survivor of alleged institutional sex abuse who is poised to launch a $1 million claim against the school.
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St Kevin’s College’s acting principal John Crowley has extended an olive branch to a man who says he was sexually abused at the school more than 70 years ago.
The Herald Sun revealed that Roger Kenna, 85, was poised to launch a $1 million claim for historic sexual offences against the school, now part of the Edmund Rice Education Australia Catholic schools.
Held in high esteem for his work with Ballarat institutional sexual abuse survivors while St Patrick’s College principal, Mr Crowley and Mr Kenna met for an hour at the Toorak school.
Mr Crowley was appointed in an acting capacity at St Kevin’s but has signalled he will not apply for the currently advertised permanent role.
Mr Kenna is being supported by child abuse activist and campaigner Michael Advocate of Victim Justice.
Mr Advocate, who does not use his real surname, claims previous efforts to resolve the matter over the past nine months hit a roadblock because of a requirement that Mr Kenna undergo examination that would re-traumatise him.
Mr Advocate said the meeting with Mr Crowley was a first step and another meeting is planned next month to seek justice for Mr Kenna.
But, he still plans to press ahead with the legal claim on behalf of Mr Kenna
Mr Kenna, who kept his abuse secret for more than 70 years, said he has nothing to lose in his bid to seek redress and acknowledgment of the historical abuse he alleges he received at St Joseph’s College and St Kevin’s College.
The statement of claim will be lodged early next week.
The $1.045m claim, which covers pain and suffering, loss of earnings, damages and medical expenses, covers alleged offences at St Kevin’s only.
Mr Advocate said his approaches to the schools, now run by Edmund Rice Education Australia, and “multiple parties” have been rebuffed.
He said they were seeking to “re-traumatise” Mr Kenna and stalling because of his advanced age.
“I have simply requested a meeting to discuss Roger’s situation because he’s 85 years old and he needs closure with this matter, that is why he made a submission to the royal commission. “He is fairly and justly entitled to compensation for having his life so massively damaged by this paedophile monster who abused him at two different colleges,” he said.
St Kevin’s College acting principal John Crowley said he was not aware of Mr Kenna’s case but was happy to meet him.
“Since starting at St Kevin’s I have met with victims and survivors of abuse and I am always available to meet with anyone who has been a victim to listen deeply to their story and support them as best I can,” Mr Crowley said.
While at St Patrick’s in Ballarat Mr Crowley was able to support and comfort survivors of abuse in the city.
“I am really committed to meeting with victims and survivors of abuse and I have been doing so regularly since arriving at St Kevin’s and would welcome and opportunity for anyone to share their story.”
Mr Kenna, who made a submission to the Royal Commission into Institutional Abuse in 2015, was seven when he became a boarder at Geelong’s St Joseph’s College.
He said he kept what he believed was Brother Keenan’s death notice for many years on his desk. A family member asked him about the death notice, prompting him to speak out and make a submission to the royal commission. He later read about Mr Advocate in the Herald Sun and sought him out.
In 1942 Mr Kenna’s father was serving in the RAAF and his mother was living in Sydney.
Mr Kenna claims Brother Anthony Keenan abused him when he was in the St Joey’s boarding house. At that time the school offered primary school.
He said under dark Br Keenan would get into bed with boys and fondle their genitalia.
A man working in the school laundry also watched movies with the boarders on a Saturday night.
When the lights were down he would fondle the boys.
Mr Kenna said he not tell anyone about the alleged abuse.
After the war the family resettled in Melbourne and Mr Kenna said she was sent to St Kevin’s College, in Toorak, as a day student.
The school was then located at the corner of Orrong Road and St Georges Road.
Br Keenan, from St Joseph’s, had shifted to St Kevin’s and was teaching him.
Mr Kenna has recounted that Br Keenan was brazen, sticking his hands down Roger’s pants as he was walking down the aisles between desks.
Mr Kenna said he was given detention after school and Br Keenan would continue to grope him and expose his erection.
He said he mentioned it to his devoutly Catholic mother, Monica, and she said: “You’re talking nonsense”.
“I only ever said it once,” he said.
“She was a pillar of the church. She used to make them cakes.”
Mr Kenna said he started a pattern of wagging school.
“With this going on I did not want to be part of it. My mother thought I was going to school but I wasn’t,” he said.
Mr Kenna said he believed the parents of another boy brought the alleged abuse to the notice of the school. Brother Keenan was moved on.
Mr Kenna said after Brother Keenan left the school he did well in his studies under the guidance of a Brother English.
He also alleges he was assaulted at Sacred Heart Church, Kew, where he served as an altar boy.
His disclosure of the abuse to his younger sister Juliet was the first time he had told anyone about the abuse.
Mr Kenna said family was deeply religious and his mother and two younger siblings had attended the ordination of disgraced priest Gerald Ridsdale in Ballarat.
“My schooling at St Kevin’s was difficult. I have regrets about how the abuse affected me, forcing me to stay away from school and having difficulty concentrating on academic challenges,” he said.
Mr Kenna said he left school at 16 and did not pursue his plans for a career in law. He worked in the wool industry and now lives in inner Melbourne.
“I just did not get the opportunities. It has been a struggle,” he said.
Mr Kenna said he believed his wedding was the first at the new St Kevin’s Chapel in 1962.
Michael Advocate, a child abuse survivor, describes himself as “Victoria’s most outspoken child sex crusader”.
He is working on a number of other cases.
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