Sex abuse victims call for ‘ironclad’ laws to protect kids

Victims of disgraced Christian brother Robert Best embraced outside the Victorian County Court on Thursday, moments after the notorious paedophile was sentenced to another six years in jail.

It was 16,000 kilometres from where four of the men had stood on the steps of the Hotel Quirinale in Rome on the same day last year.

They were part of a group of 15 Ballarat victims, who flew overseas to bear witness to Cardinal George Pell’s evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse.  

But a year later, the fight continues.

The horror inflicted on Gary Sculley at St Alipius Boys' School in Ballarat by disgraced paedophile Christian brother Gerald Leo Fitzgerald and Best is so raw it’s as if it happened yesterday. 

“I live with it every day of my life,” Mr Sculley said. 

“These atrocities must never happen again.” 

“We need the law makers of today to take a look at the damage, imagine it was their own sons and daughters, and implement ironclad laws to protect our kids.”

“I will not rest, I will fight to the day I die to protect future generations of children.”

Another of Best’s victims, Tony Wardley, recalled how he was crippled by fear every-time he walked through the school gates of St Alipius Boys' School.

He was abused by multiple Christian brothers and a Catholic nun. 

“I dreaded it,” he said. 

“St Alipius was full of paedophiles, there were three or four there at any one time.” 

“It’s destroyed my life.”

Mr Wardley said Best had shown no remorse for the abuse he’d inflicted on more than 30 victims.  

“He just thought it was his right, as most Catholic religious offenders do,” Mr Wardley said. 

“They’re the biggest, most powerful, richest paedophile ring the world has ever seen and they’re still going.” 

Paul Auchettl who was sexually abused by Best at age of 11 said there was an “unseen carnage” in Ballarat.

Countless victims had been lost to suicide, while others had spiralled into lives of self-destruction, alcohol and drug addition, he said. 

"There is an invisible carnage in Ballarat...you can't see the way it has disabled the community but it has," he said. 

“We’ve buried people.

“There are families still struggling.

“There are people who haven’t yet told their stories. There are so many women who have been affected by this.

“We have to stand up for them. We need to turn a light on, so our mums, daughters, sisters can speak out about how this has impacted them.

“We have to recover everybody before we can move forward as a society.”

A notorious paedophile Ballarat Christian brother dubbed a "monster" by one of his victims, was jailed another six years for unleashing a two decade long reign of terror on 20 children across Victoria.

Robert Best, 76, previously  pleaded guilty in the County Court of Victoria to sexually abusing 20 young victims between 1968 and 1988 at schools in Ballarat, Box Hill, Geelong and Moonee Ponds.

County Court Judge Geoffrey Chettle said Best's offending was "disgusting, abhorrent, and horrific."

"You have caused a great deal of human damage," he said. 

"Your victims felt powerless and unable to complain. They suffer continual torment and pain.

"Your offending was horrific, you were correctly described by one of your victims as a monster,"

In one incident, a boy had his hands bound with rope to a metal grate in the school’s boiler room by disgraced Christian brother Gerald Leo Fitzgerald while Best assaulted him.

Most of Brother Best's victims were schoolboys aged between eight and 11 who he abused while working as a teacher at St Alipius as well as St Leo's College in Box Hill, St Bernard's in Essendon and St Joseph's College, Geelong.

The court heard many of the assaults occurred in Best's office, where he took victims for punishment.

He would often beat them until they cry, comfort them and then sexually abuse them.

Others occurred in the school sick bay under the pretext of checking their well-being.

The Christian Brothers had spent more than $1.5 million in legal fees on Best, whose victims number in the dozens, according to evidence the order gave to the child abuse royal commission in 2015.

Emotional victims wiped tears from their eyes as his sentence was handed down.

Best stood emotionless in the dock.

Judge Chettle said many of Best's victims suffered depression, suicidal thoughts, isolation and problems with drugs and alcohol and broken relationships as a result of the abuse.

Best, who is already in jail serving a 14 year and 9 month sentence for other sexual offences, now has an earliest release date of mid-2027.

Judge Chettle said Best will most likely die in prison.

• To contact the Centre Against Sexual Assault, located on the corner of Vale and Edwards streets, Sebastopol, call 5320 3933 or free call 24 hours 1800 806 292.

Lifeline can be accessed on 13 11 14.