Christchurch’s Marylands Street and Marylands Park no longer exist. A renaming ceremony on Thursday saw a new street sign unveiled, Validation Place – and a new park sign, Validation Park. In time, no-one will know Marylands Catholic residential school for boys (which St John of God brothers ran from 1955 to 1984) ever existed. Marylands Read more
Even the name of the street disgraced Marylands School was on will be obliterated. A new name for the Christchurch street and its adjacent reserve is being sought. Nobody wants to remember Marylands Place and Marylands Reserve. Both are associated with abuse of children and young people. One in five of the boys who attended Read more
In a display of silence, the John of God Brothers headquarters, based in Rome, did not open the door to Marylands survivor Darryl Smith. Smith, a long-time voice for sexual abuse survivors, was sexually abused as a child while at John of God Brothers residential schools in both New Zealand and Australia. Pleased that finally Read more
A man who suffered sexual abuse as a child at the hands of the Brothers of St John of God is upset. Darryl Smith (pictured) was one of dozens of boys who suffered “extreme abuse and neglect” at Marylands School. Complaints show the school’s abusive reign ran from 1955 to the late 1980s. Now 59, Read more
Financial compensation is just a starting point for a survivor of abuse at the Marylands School – he is calling for more. Darryl Smith suffered at the hands of the John of God Brothers in Australia and New Zealand. He has already undergone a redress settlement process in Australia and received compensation from the Queensland Read more
Darryl Smith says having the Royal Commission interim report “Stolen Lives, Marked Souls” on Marylands out in public is a good thing. Smith is a former student at Marylands School and a survivor. The Royal Commission acknowledges his quest for justice. He is pleased that finally the children’s cries for help that were ignored by Read more
“Abhorrent and should never have happened” is how Archbishop Paul Martin describes the sexual abuse at Marylands School. Martin is responding in a media release to the Royal Commission’s interim report Stolen Lives, Marked Souls. The report into the St John of God brothers’ Marylands School in Christchurch was released on Wednesday. Martin suggests it Read more
Apologies from the Catholic Church followed the final submissions into historical abuse at Christchurch’s Marylands school. More than 30 witnesses gave evidence to the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care – many survivors, some experts and some senior members of the Catholic Church. In her closing statement, lawyer Sally McKechnie, who represented New Zealand’s Read more
Catholic Archbishop Paul Martin, the current Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Christchurch, accepts that survivors want the church to take responsibility for historical abuse cases and not just leave it to the particular order involved. He made the comment at the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care inquiry investigating historical abuse by the St Read more
The dates for hearing evidence about abuse at Christchurch’s Marylands School, co-located St Joseph’s Orphanage and the Hebron Trust have been announced by the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care. The Commission is encouraging survivors to come forward, as is St John of God survivor, Darryl Smith. Smith says his traumatic story with St John Read more