Father Mark Raper speaks out against the Church's handling of sexual abuse allegations

PM Archive - Tuesday, 1 July , 2003 18:10:00

Reporter: David Hardaker

MARK COLVIN: A leading figure in Australia's Roman Catholic Church is delivering an extraordinary mea culpa tonight. The Head of Australia's Jesuits, Father Mark Raper, has admitted that the Church has failed a man who was the victim of sexual abuse, 35 years ago.

Father Raper has also made some frank admissions about how his branch of the church conducts its legal defence. This senior Catholic figure has broken ranks to admit that the church uses blocking tactics in the hope of exhausting those who sue for compensation.

David Hardaker has this report.

DAVID HARDAKER: Lucien Leech-Larkin was fifteen-years old, a student at Saint Aloysius College in Sydney, whenhe met the man who almost destroyed his life. Colin Fearon, a science teacher at the school, sexually abused the young boy, but when his parents complained the teacher was believed and Lucien was forced to leave the school. Being abused, then not being believed damaged him for life.

LUCIEN LEECH-LARKIN: What they did to me, I suppose you could say Fearon broke my heart and they broke my mind, the Jesuits.

DAVID HARDAKER: For the next thirty years, Lucien Leech-Larkin stumbled through life until five years ago when out of the blue he discovered his old science teacher was wanted over child sex charges in New Zealand.

Soon Colin Fearon was also charged and committed for trial in Sydney. In the end Fearon was able to beat both sets of