A group of Victorian men will sue the Catholic Church for failing to
protect them from a brother who sexually abused schoolboys under the
guise of corporal punishment.The former brother, Edward Mamo, was jailed for ordering five students to remove their pants and bend over before striking them with a leather strap.
Mamo would often touch himself and make comments to the students while hitting them, the Victorian County Court heard.
He also assaulted two other boys by seductively massaging the chest of one and fondling the genitals of the other while wrestling with him on a school bus.
Three of Mamo's victims have accused the school's operator, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC), of covering up the abuse.
"When we reported it did (MSC) tell the authorities? Did they even tell our parents or give us any counselling? They just enabled it to go on night after night," one victim said outside court.
The group of victims is now preparing a civil case against MSC and urged any other victims to come forward and join the action.
"We worry that we are the tip of the iceberg," one victim said. "We are gravely concerned that these crimes were covered up at the time."
Mamo would order the students to an isolated room under the school, where he would make them wait in a dark corridor before spanking their bare backsides.
He was aged 31 to 35 at the time of his offending and assaulted schoolboys as young as 11.
Judge Julian Leckie said Mamo was guilty of a serious breach of trust.
"You breached that duty of care by sexually interfering with them," he told Mamo. "They suffered and continue to suffer emotional and psychological trauma as a result of your offending."
Judge Leckie said Mamo, of Sydney, had demonstrated a measure of remorse by offering his guilty plea as an apology for the hurt and harm he had caused the victims.
He must serve 18 months of his sentence before he will become eligible for parole.