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10th September, 1999

Mr. Malcolm Davies Dunhill Madden Butler GPO Box427 SYDNEY NSW 1041

Dear Mr. Davies,

Re: The Salvation Army and FV

M.B.B.S. M.D. F.R.CP.(Cl. DIP .l'STo! F JUJH.C.P.

203 • 2.33 NEW SOUTH HEAD ROAD

EDGECUFF N.S.W. 2o27

P.O. Box 474 EDGECLIFF N.S.W. 2027

PHONE 02 9328 I 568 FAX 02 9365 3168

At your request, I have prepared the following medicolegal report in respect of the abovenamed. In the preparation of this report, I interviewedlFV I on August 25th 1999. In addition, I am familiar with the following documents:

1. 2. 3.

4. - 5.

Statement of Claim. Defence. Report of Dr. Caroline Quadrio, Consultant Psychiatrist, dated September 11th 1997. Letter fromfV~-~I t~oc__,the Salvation Army dated May 29th 1996. File rel a ting tolFV I and Bexley Boys Home.

I understand that you act for the Salvation Army in this matter which relates to a claim for damages in respect of sexual and physical abuse on the Plaintiff by Captain Lawrence Wilson.

IFV ~ a forklift driver by profession, is aged 38 years. He told me that he has been living in Perth for the last seven months with his de facto partner 1t1i•f¢111aged35 years and their two year old twins,BJ§'~M' and li1i'7f 'j. ·

IFV I told me he was the third of four children. He has an older sister ji@•l;I aged 42 years, who lives in Darwin with her family including three children, a sister- aged 40 years who has a 19 year old daughter and lives in Brisbane, and a brother~ aged 36 years who is single but has a daughter. ~lives in Brisbane~ IFV lsaid thatB was in Bexley with him for the firSt

1two rar period. He said the experience "ruined~

He can't do anything". He describe FX as "a lost cause".

IFV I told me that his parents separated when he was about three years of age. His father died of a heart attack in his forties. His mother died much later from the _consequences of alcoholism at the age of 52. He said the family was in Queensland when his parents separated. About a year later, his mother formed a relationship with ldj•f+M lti@•f+t+Jil which lasted 8 years, until IFV I was about 12. He said he was quite

REDACTED attached to and in fact took on his surname.

Provider No. 006496H

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REDACTED He said that his mother and separated when they moved back to Sydney. He said his mother left with another man, leaving BJ§'l@and the three youngest children in the home. A week later, liti(il left then shortly after he said he would return if the children let his girlfriend move in with him. The children refused. IFV I said that about two months later, the Salvation Army found that they were living there with no adults. The children were removed and he and ~were placed at Bexley Boy's Home. His sister went to a Salvation Army Home in Orange.

IFV !told me that his mother had had eight children before the age of 30 however two sets of twins had died. He said that it was too much for her, so after the separation when he was about three years of age, all of the children were put in a home. His mother then bought a share in a caravan park where she lived with the children although the children were in and out of a children's home called Carramar in Townsville until about the age of 8 years. He said that the years in the caravan park were good. The people were nice and there were other children there. His mother then bought a shop in Cairns where they staved until about 11 and they then moved to Sydney where his mother and --separated. 1

He told me that he has very little recollection of the time before he went into Bexley Boy's Home. He said of what he knows he has obtained from a Children's Services Report which he has sighted. He told me that his earliest memory is of Christmas 1969-1970 (when he was aged about 8 1/2 years). He has some memories about the shop in Cairns but he said that much of his memory is taken up by memories of Bexley Boy's Home, whiC.h (overwhelms) everything else.

I asked him about living in Cairns. He said that it was alright They lived in an interesting part of town and there was lots to do. He could recall his mother drinking. He said his mother and-seemed to get on quite well at the time.

IFV I told me that he resided at the Bexley Boy's Home for two 2 year periods separated by three months when he was aged between 12 years and 15 years (1973-1976). He told me that in the intervening period, his mother had picked him up from the boy's home and was going to go to Brisbane. He said he didn't want to be with her so he ended up on the streets. He went to Melbourne briefly then found his sister ltii•f@ However he got into so much trouble (break and enters and other offences) that the police said that they were going to either charge him or he had to be returned to Bexley. He said he told his sister to let him be charged rather than being returned, but he was sent back anyway. He wished this hadn't happened:

I asked him about his life after Bexley. He said when he left, he was sent to his sister l;Jj•f+I in Townsville. It seem~went with him. He said they thought it was a holiday but it was a one way ticket. Within two weeks, he was in Carramar again for stealing where he remained for about two months. He said that they couldn't control him. They police took him to the Brisbane Children's Detention Centre (Woolston) for a month. He was taken out by an administrator (Don Smith) after his brother ~asked Mr. Smith to check on him. He said that Mr. Smith also had dealings with a supervised Home for children run by the Baptist Church which had two staff and two children. He was accepted into the Home. He also got a job and but was sacked two days later for fighting. He got another job and was sacked again for fighting and had to move out of the house.

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He then lived on the "streets for some time. He said he slept in a school staff room and was scamming for money during the day for the next five or six months until he moved into a house with five other young men.

He said that he obtained work driving a forklift at the age of 17 and stayed in that position for six years until the company was sold and he was sacked for fighting shortly afterw.ards. He said since then he has had 26 jobs and he has been sacked for fighting 23 times. He said he can't handle people pushing him around or standing over him. He said that since that first long period of employment, the longest time he has held any particular job has been about six months.

He told me that he first married at 18 years. This marriage lasted eight years. He was then in another relationship for four years which he said he "stuffed up". He said his first wife wanted children but he always said no. He said that his second partner also wanted children and that created problems there as well. He said he did not want to have children because of what he went through at Bexley, by which he meant being sexually abused.

He told me that he had been in his current relationship withl;Ja•f+Wll#for about six years. He gets on well with her older children and because of that, he thought that perhaps he was ready to have children himself.

However he said he still worries that he will sexually abuse his children. He said he is very nervous with his twins and he never spends a day alone with them. He also feels that he will "fuck up my kid's lives because they will copy me". By this he particularly meant his aggressiveness and he felt his son was particularly vulnerable. He said he tried to molest the daughter of a friend with whom he stayed.

I asked Mr~bout his experiences at Bexley Boy's Home. He said that the first night was okay. ~afternoon of the second day, a boy named IX8 lwho was about 16~M~_pld, took~into the toilet and raped him. Mr. IFX lsaid that he attacked ~who was too big for him. He said that within a short tir~.e.IFX ~ad been raped by Captain Wilson on at least two occasions and had been targeted by a number of

9 other boys for physical and sexual assaults.

He said that he was sent to people's houses "so we would be sexually abused". For instance, he told me that Captain Wilson used to bash them. He recalled in his first week of his arrival there, he laughed in the course of conversation with some other boys when Captain Wilson came into the dinning room. He did not know that the rule was that "you had to go quiet". He said Wilson dragged him to the office by his hair and caned him all over 20 times or so.

He told me that Captain Wilson had sent him to visit a Salvation Army family who tried to sexually assault him. He said both the mother and the father were involved. When he arrived at the house, the father said tl).at he had to go to the shop and the mother said that she was going upstairs. He went up to wake her later on but she was lying there with no clothes on. He said he paced up and down. Eventually he tapped her on the shoulder and bolted from the bedside but she didn't move. He went back and shook her, at which point, he said she appeared to awake although he seemed to think that she was actually pretending to sleep. He said she made him talk to her. She got his pants off. The

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husband came home and said it was okay. He said that he bolted and took the train back to Bexley. He tried to tell Captain Wilson but he seemed not to have succeeded. He claimed that Captain Wilson knew what was going on.

Captain Wilson had. said something the effect that the children at Bexley were special and needed special treatment, and then Captain Wilson raped him. At this point he broke· down in tears and sat silently for a few minutes. He then stood up and said he had to go out. On his return about half an hour later, he said he was very angry at Captain Wilson. He told me he can't talk about what happened. He went on to say that if he sees things on television about sexual assault, he becomes enraged and has smashed five televisions. He said "those mongrels should be killed".

He told me that a Mr. ~lso tried to molest him but he knew what Mr. IFV ~ould do so he molested ot~~ indicate what he meant by this, he told me that one boy called had bashed him frequently until he was able to "deal with him". One night when ltl@•f+lwas asleep, Mr.IFV went outside and picked up a piece of timber, brought it inside and "smashed him" with it. He said he broke!;ja•fftjaw. He said that

ltl@•f+ti never hit him again because he thought he wj5 psyclj°, and he thinks that Mr IX12imight also have been concerned about how Mr. FV might have reacted to any as-s-auft.

He said that the second time he went to Bexley Boys Home, he got a baseball bat the first night and layed into four other boys to show them not to mess with him.

Mr. IFV !described other physical assaults by boys on boys. He said that the officers knew about it but never did anything about it. He said the only way to survive was to get tough. He said that he doesn't like admitting it, but he did the same thing to other children.

He said that sometimes, he would even try to sleep on the roof to get away from potential attackers. If it wasn't the boys coming it, it was people coming in from outside. He indicated that the staff seemed to leave the home sufficiently accessible so that people could simply walk in from the street and sexually abuse the boys.

He said he could protect his brothe~FX ~o some degree, but ~was being molested by bil!l!er boys whom he could not deal with. He said he tried to electrocute one boy named 00§:1@who had raped~on a number of occasions. He obtained an electric heater and ~it on and put it next to the boy, but the boy woke up and bashed him before Mr. [_"___Jcould throw water onto it.

Throughout this account, Mr. ~kept reiterating "how much this stuff has fucked (him) up". He was also crying.

Mr. IFV ltold me he has very few recreati~nal activities. He has raced a number of rally cars and was Queensland champion in 1986, but he found the vehicles were too expensive so he has been drag racing ever since then.

He said he doesn't like watching TV, movies or reading a paper because he is afraid he is g?ing to come across something about sexual assault.

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He said that he sleeps extremely lightly. If he is touched, he reacts immediately. When one .of his twins was 14 months of age, he reacted reflexly and pushed him across the room. He has also hit l;J@•f4115ltwice. On each occasion it was because the person touched him when he was asleep.

He said he sleeps very lighly or els~ he starts dreaming about things that have happened. Prior to my assessment Mr. FV ad flown into Sydney overnight from Perth and was due to return to Perth at the end of the day on which I saw him. He told me that he did not find this schedule particularly (rigorous), because he can't, and he doesn't like, sleep. He said that it is better for him to be awake otherwise he has upsetting thoughts and nightmares. He attributed this to having to stay awake at night in the home. He said if you didn't, you weren't able to protect yourself.

He told me he saw a psychologist at Penrith in about 1996 on several occasions. He said it didn't really seem to help him but just made him madder. He hasn't seen any other psychologists.

Mr. IFV ltold me that he had a number of police convictions, the last in 1992 for possession of marijuana and assault. He said that many of the convictions were for assault but he had also been convicted for theft and car theft. He said he had never been goaled.

He told me he has tried drugs but he has never used them for any prolonged period. He has grown and sold marijuana. He said he used to be quite a heavy drinker between 1981 and 1983 when he consumed, almost 24 stubbies a day. He said he reduced this gradually before he quit totally in 1985. He decided that he had to get hold of his life somehow and he was afraid of ending up in goal.

He said that he has essentially been in good health but at the moment he has bilateral repetitive strain injury of his forearms due to operating the forklift. He said he has been off work on compensation for the past six months and is presently undergoing a rehabilitation programme and treatment with cortisone injections.

He told me that he didn't know how to control his thoughts or his temper. He said that he believes that he poses a serious risk of child sexual assault. He indicated that he feels terribly burdened by this but he doesn't know how to deal with it.

He said that he tries to keep himself busy to keep away from his . thoughts. He spends time with the twins, on his car, or talking with ld@•f+WilfHowever he said that he has to work by himself because he is too rude or arrogant. He said that he knows that he is far too easy to provoke. He said that knowing that doesn't stop him though. ·

Mr.IFV !came to my office accompanied by a male friend whom he said had also lived in Bexley Boy's Home. Mr.IFV lwas a tall, solidly built man with long hair, an earring and prominent tattoos on his forearms. He was very anxious and established poor eye contact. While telling me his history, Mr. IFV I appeared to be totally preoccupied with his thoughts and the pressure of this complete preoccupation. He was near to tears for much of the time he talked about the Bexley Boy's Home. At one point when he started to describe what he alleged Captain Wilson had done to him, he had to leave my office for

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about a· half an hour. He showed no evidence of psychosis. He seemed of average intelligence. He was very discursive, but this may have been due to anxiety.

I note the psychiatric report of Dr. Carolyn Quad.rio dated September 11th 1997. Her account of Mr. IFV I demeanour during the interview was identical to that which I observed. However in certain respects, the history she obtained about two years ago was somewhat different. He described his stepfather in more positive terms to me,. indicating that he took on Mr. 'dd'f1''d•lsurname. The history of his placements in Brisbane after he was discharged from Bexley Children's Home was also somewhat different.

He told me a little more about the alleged assaults, but I pressed him somewhat more than had Dr. Quadrio as she had seen police statements . . However he very quickly indicated that he found this too painful and he had to leave my office for about half an hour.

Most significantly, he appears to have denied to Dr. Quadrio that he was sexually assaulted by Captain Wilson, whereas he quite clearly told me that this was the case, although he didn't tell me a great deal in detail about the sexual assaults.

I note that she indicates that Mr.IFV ~nd IEP I another plaintiff, have shared their experiences about being at Bexley Boys Home. I would noted that there were certain elements of their history which were very similar.

I note the materials from the records of the Salvation Army. I note a letter to Ms.ldi•f@I BJJl@ dated May 17th 1974 from Captain Wilson indicating that the boys had been abandoned by their mother and shortly after by their stepfather before Welfare stepped in. I note a handwritten note, apparently recording a telephone call from to the effect that Mr. ltii•f@llwas a very cruel man.

REDACTED

Opinion

Mr. IFV !demeanour and the symptoms he currently reports are consistent with the mJuries he alleges. However, some elements of the account which he gives such as indicating that he believes that he was deliberately sent to other people's homes so that they could sexually abuse him and other boys, and that people could simply walk in off the street and "help themselves" to the boys, on the face of it sounds implausible. Nevertheless, had this occurred, these as well would have led to the injuries claimed.

Taking his symptoms at face value, Mr. IFV I meets the criteria for a Chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as well as Personality Disorder, unspecified type. I would note that the Personality Disorder which his condition most closely resembles is Borderline Personality Disorder.

I would note that Mr. IFV I lack of recollection of much of his life prior to going to Bexley Boys Home is a little unusual, and his account that the Bexley experiences swamp out other memory is also not the usual experience. The recollections he does have of his early childhood seem to present a fairly idealised picture. However the fact of his recurrent placement in Carramar as well as his mother's personal history suggest that he was probably quite a damaged boy before he came into care, although it would be most

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helpful if contemporaneous material could be obtained on that question from the places where he was in care.

I would~ the documentation from the Salvation Army would appear to verify that Mr. ~mother abandoned him immediately prior to his placement at Bexley Boys Home. Again this is an indicator of severe parenting dysf1finction 'rd suggests that her parenting was highly dysfunctional over the entirely of Mr. rv !childhood. This in tum raises the possibility that much of his emotional state at the moment might be attributed to experiences acquired prior to admission to Bexley Boys Home.

I also would indicate a note of caution if he has been sharing information with IEP and vice versa, as they may have contaminated each other's memory. ~--~

Mr. Walsh's present mental state, if completely genuine, is likely to be highly resistant to treatment. By his account, he has received a number of sessions of counselling with little benefit, although this should be verified from the records of the counsellor. In addition, his pattern of chronic hypervigilence and irritability is also difficult to change although I would note that on his history, he had what sounds like quite a severe alcoholic problem early in his adulthood which he was able to defeat himself.

In any event, it would be my opinion that even prolonged counselling is likely to have at best a modest impact. Whether MrfV !represents a risk of sexual assault on children, I am not so certain. He fears this, but the strength of his fear is so great that it may well be that this will be sufficient to obviate the risk.

As I have some concerns over Mr. IFV I reliability, I would suggest a psychological evaluation oriented towards ascertaining ~e consistency of his emotional responses over a range of psychological testing situations.

Yours sincerely

• 2 Brent Waters Consultant Psychiatrist

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