John’s* life has been blighted by the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his Catholic school principal.
Forty years on, he is having to appeal to the Marist Brothers for redress, the very institution who employed the perpetrator.
John was shut out of the investigation before being offered a compensation figure he describes as insulting and an impersonal “computer-generated” apology letter.
John was about 12 years old in the early 1980s when he attended Xavier Intermediate school in Christchurch.
He says the principal, Brother Giles, groomed him. Giles would call him to his office, show him pornography magazines, and talk about masturbation.
Then the rapes started, and they continued for two years.
Giles would use his office, leaving his cane on the desk as a threat. He also raped John in a room at the nearby Cathedral.
Sometimes John would wet himself at school through fear of the attacks. He became alienated from his classmates.