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AUDREY Nash does not need to hear Francis William Cable say he sexually assaulted her son Andrew, 13, in 1974 in the months before Andrew hanged himself in the bedroom of his family home.
‘‘I know he did,’’ said Mrs Nash, 89, who left a Sydney Downing Centre court on Thursday as a judge read the dreadful details of Cable’s crimes against children when he was Marist Brother Romuald. ‘‘I couldn’t stay in there to hear what he did to young boys, but I went back in.
‘‘I heard the judge say ‘16 years jail’.’’
John Dunn wept and hugged Mrs Nash outside the court.
‘‘Andrew was my best mate,’’ he said.
At Marist Hamilton Andrew’s death stunned and horrified his classmates.
‘‘In acknowledgment of my friendship with Andrew, I was escorted to the principal’s office by Romuald.
‘‘I was terrified. I’d allowed myself to be alone with him. Romuald’s predations stole my focus from Andrew that day and I’ll never forgive Romuald for that.’’
Mr Dunn was outraged after reading Newcastle Herald articles last week about Marist Schools Australia giving contact details to a convicted child sex offender on its website.
Marist Brother Terry Gilsenan, who taught at Hamilton in 1995-96, is contact person for school resources that include a comic book about Marist Brothers founder St Marcellin Champagnat, and was convicted in 2001 of raping a 12-year-old.
Marist Brothers provincial Brother Jeffrey Crowe’s assurances that Brother Gilsenan had no contact with children was appalling and ridiculous, Mr Dunn said. ‘‘What checks and balances do the Catholic Education Office and the Marist Brothers have in place to scrutinise this offender’s emails?’’ Mr Dunn said.
Parents of children at Marist schools should demand that he be removed from the website, he said.