Former Christian Brother to be sentenced for sexually assaulting boys at Austalian orphanage in the '60s

A victim of abuse told a County Court in Australia that he still feels angry at how he was treated by the Christian Brothers at an orphanage when he was a boy. The man, who is now in his 60s, said that he was accused of lying by two Brothers when he approached them about having been sexually abused by another Brother, and he was punished.

"I am still angry to this day and the anger will be there because as a ward of the state I was let down by the system," he said, as quoted by The Age. "I will never forgive William Houston for what he did to me."

The man recalled being strapped each morning for five days in front of all the other kids, with the head Brother reportedly saying, "This is what we do to boys who fabricate stories about us."

William Stuart Houston, now 77, was a Christian Brother who worked at St. Augustine's Orphanage for boys in Geelong, Victoria from 1963 to 1970, then later taught at other Catholic schools in Melbourne. According to Broken Rites Australia, an organization focused on abuse by members of the clergy, Houston had many victims, one of which was a boy of 12 who was sexually abused by the accused on his third day at the orphanage. It reportedly happened over and over for two to 2 1/2 years, and there were other incidents wherein up to four boys were called by Houston into his room in a day.

According to the Herald Sun, Houston was first taken to court in 1997, but was ordered to stand trial for only three charges of indecent assault and buggery out of 14 charges filed, but he never went to trial. Two other victims came forward in 2008 and the original complainant signed a new police statement. Houston got off scot free in 2014 for a case on sexual assault against a 12-year-old boy.

Broken Rites Australia, meanwhile, said that the Melbourne Magistrates Court ordered Houston in October last year to stand trial (in 2016) for the case involving eight living victims and one who has passed away.

Houston was reportedly taken into custody in late April. The Age said that last month, he was found guilty of three charges of indecent assault, four of buggery, and one of attempted buggery in relation to attacks on three boys at the orphanage. He also pleaded guilty to 12 charges of indecent assault in relation to assaults on three other boys.

The court will sentence him this month.