Belgian Catholic Abuses – 13 suicides, Victimised from 2 year old

Harrowing details of some 300 cases of alleged sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in Belgium have been released by a Church investigator.

Peter Adriaenssens said cases of abuse, mostly involving minors, had been found in nearly every diocese, and 13 alleged victims had committed suicide.

Two-thirds of victims were boys but 100 girls also suffered, he said.

Belgian media have accused the Church of seeking to hide abuse despite prosecutions of abusers.

The child psychiatrist, who has worked with trauma victims for 23 years, said nothing had prepared him for the stories of abuse, which multiplied as former abusers gave testimony.

“We saw how priests, called up by the commission and asked to help seek the truth, were willing to set up the list of 10, 15, 20 victims they abused during boarding school while the commission knew only of one,” he said.

Many alleged victims came forward to testify to the commission after the Bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, resigned this year, admitting to having sexually abused a boy before and after becoming a bishop.
‘Abused aged two’

It reveals that abuse was at its worst in the 1960s when it was so extensive that it was going on in almost every diocese and at every Church-run boarding school.

Assaults on boys usually ended by their 15th year but abuse of girls could continue into adulthood, the report found.

People, Mr Adriaenssens said, should realise that the sexual abuse was “very bad”, which was why victims were still suffering decades later.

One alleged victim told the commission of being abused at the age of two.

A female victim testified that she had been abused at the age of 17 by a priest

In addition to those who killed themselves, six alleged victims attempted suicide.

READ FULL REPORT AT

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11260290