“I’m a survivor”: $1.4m payout for sex abuse survivor

A Melbourne man finally has justice, five decades after suffering horrific sexual abuse at the hands of the church and government..

A man who was sexually abused by two paedophile Christian Brothers has received a $1.4 million settlement from the Catholic Church and the state, one of the largest payouts of its kind.

61-year-old Michael, not his real name, was abused by Brother Donald Alford, a prolific paedophile who allegedly targeted more boys in Connecticut when he was transferred to the United States, and Brother John Higgins while he lived at St Augustine’s Boys’ Home in Highton, near Geelong, in the 1960s.

Michael waited 50 years for justice and on April 6 awarded $1.43 million after his legal team discovered the Christian Brothers buried documents detailing his own complaints about Brother Alford’s abuse during another victim’s case.

“I want to have something to show for the years of struggle, I’ve managed to still come through it and survive.”

I want to tell the truth. It’s not about the money. I would just like to say to them what a bunch of low, sorry lives they are.”

St Augustine's Boys Home. Picture: MacKillop Family Services

While Michael went on to hold a steady career after leaving state care once he turned 18, he battled alcohol and drug addiction throughout his life.

Having given evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, revelations of the abuse destroyed his marriage and strained relationships with several of his siblings and his daughter.

“The biggest problem as an adult is trust.

“I had a relationship break-up five years ago, I told her what happened to me as a child, but she couldn’t handle it.

After brief stints in other boys’ homes in Burwood, Ballarat and the Nazareth House in Sebastopol where he was physically abused, the sexual abuse began the first time he lived at St Augustine’s.

Michael said the state of Victoria paid a portion of his compensation for placing him into St Augustine’s care for the first time when he was nine years old, and a second time when he was 11 despite attempting to report the sexual abuse he endured the first time to another Brother.

Aerial view of St Augustine's Boys Home. Picture: MacKillop Family Services

Michael said he tried to run away when he was returned to St Augustine’s because he knew the sexual abuse would continue.

He he was forced to masturbate Brother Alford in the sacristy multiple times, and that then head brother Higgins would summon him to his room at night and rape him.

Kelly Schober, Michael’s lawyer and Arnold Thomas & Becker Lawyers senior associate said Michael could have been severely short-changed had he gone through the National Redress Scheme.

“Survivors can expect to receive a maximum of just $150,000, depending on the severity of the sexual abuse”, Ms Schober said.

“A civil law case on the other hand will take into all of the legal rights of survivors, including pain, suffering, and loss of earnings, which as we have seen in this case, has been over $1.43 million”.

Michael said: “ I can never think of anything worse in the world than to interfere with or touch a child.”

“I feel justice in a way. I don’t call myself a victim anymore, I’m a survivor.”