Boy abused by priest ‘shown corpse’ to keep him quiet

WELLINGTON REUTERS FEB 9-A New Zealand inquiry on Wednesday heard harrowing accounts from people who were abused as children while they were under the care of the Catholic Church, one of whom said he was shown a corpse in a hospital morgue by a priest to keep him quiet.

The livestreamed hearings are part of a wider Royal Commission of Inquiry that is looking into abuse in state care and faith-based institutions that is under way in the Pacific island nation.

An interim report on the inquiry released in Dec 2020 revealed that up to a quarter of a million children and young and vulnerable adults were physically and sexually abused in New Zealands faith-based and state care institutions from the 1960s to the early 2000s.A survivor from Marylands School talked about how he endured abuse for four years.

A total of 537 boys, many with disabilities, attended Marylands and 144 reported abuse, the commission was told at the hearings.