Australian Catholic order argues paedophile’s death shields it from abuse claims

A Catholic order will argue on Friday it should be shielded from abuse claims relating to one of the worst paedophiles in the New South Wales Catholic school system because he is dead, despite allegedly concealing his crimes from authorities for decades.

The Marist Brothers allegedly knew of child abuse complaints about Brother Francis "Romuald" Cable from at least 1967, but did nothing to either eject him from the order or inform police, court documents obtained by the Guardian show.

Instead, the order is accused of shuffling him between schools under its control.

Cable was eventually brought to justice in 2015, when he was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment for crimes against 19 boys at Marist Brothers schools in Maitland, Hamilton and Pagewood between 1960 and 1974.

In 2019, he was sentenced to an additional eight years behind bars for crimes against another five victims.

He died in September, still behind bars, while facing additional allegations concerning the indecent assault of a boy in the 1970s.

The Marist Brothers order is now attempting to use his death to shield itself from civil claims brought by one survivor, known by the pseudonym of Mark Peters, arguing it was unable to get a statement from him and can no longer receive a fair trial.

Survivors' advocates have described the approach as "appalling" and a "pretty low blow" for Cable's victims, whose complaints were ignored by the church for years.

"It's just appalling behaviour," Bob O'Toole, the chair of the Clergy Abused Network, said.

"It's all about protecting the dollars I guess, but I think they're not dealing with survivors in good faith. The men of the cloth, they're not dealing with them in good faith."

The Guardian has previously revealed that a similar strategy has been adopted more broadly across the church in cases where paedophile clergy have died.

Abuse lawyers across multiple firms say the church is either seeking permanent stays in court or using the threat of permanent stays to low-ball survivors in settlement negotiations.

The church's approach relies on a recent NSW court of appeal judgment in the case of GLJ, which ruled the death of a paedophile priest left the church unable to fairly defend itself. That judgment is being appealed in the high court, a case keenly watched by lawyers working on claims of abuse from the past.

Peters alleges Marist knew of complaints against Cable years before he was abused, but did nothing.

"Cable had committed scores of child sex[ual abuse] offences, starting from no later than 1960, against students of schools controlled and operated by the defendant, at which Cable was a teacher," documents filed by Peters' lawyers, Koffels Solicitors and Barristers, say.

"In 1967 an investigation was carried out by Brother Kevin that uncovered that Cable had been sexually molesting young boys."

Marist, in a defence filed to the court, has disputed that there was any investigation that concluded Cable had been abusing boys in 1967, but concedes that one other survivor, MB, has since told police and the royal commission that he complained to Marist about Cable in that year.

Marist admits that it received multiple other complaints about Cable, but says that did not occur until 1971, after Peters' abuse.

Peters alleges Marist breached its duty of care to him by allowing "a known paedophile" to remain in the position of teacher at school and by failing to depose Cable of Holy Orders in 1967.

Peters alleges the Catholic order also failed in its duty by not alerting the police to what its internal investigation had found in 1967 and by "permitting Cable continued access to young boys after 1967, in the knowledge that he was a compulsive paedophile".

Marist is now arguing that it is unable to receive a fair trial on new civil claims because it was unable to obtain a witness statement from Cable before his death.

Church lawyers attempted to interview him about his conduct but he declined and told them he did not wish to be contacted by them or the Marist Brothers again.

Last month, Peters' lawyers attempted to delay the hearing of the stay application to allow for the high court to consider the GLJ case. The NSW supreme court rejected the bid and the hearing of the stay will take place on Friday.

The approach is also at odds with the royal commission's findings, which showed it took 22 years on average for survivors to come forward.

The delay in seeking justice is the result of complex and significant barriers facing survivors. It also means that the deaths of their alleged perpetrators is common.

Marist Brothers said they were unable to comment due to the ongoing legal proceedings.

The Catholic church has previously said it could not comment on the GLJ case, due to the high court appeal.

But it said at the time that its strategy for responding to child abuse claims would "continue to be guided by the unique facts and circumstances of each case".

"Whilst our client normally desires to assist the media, it is inappropriate to make any further statements whilst the time period for applying to the high court has not yet expired," the church's lawyers said in June last year.