The Marist Fathers has admitted a priest who led one of its top secondary schools sexually abused children. But decades on they will not release the file on Francis Durning, rector of St Patrick's College in Silverstream, Upper Hutt, in the 1950s.
He was publicly remembered in Catholic obituaries as a man of "profound integrity" but a victim said other clergy nicknamed him "Fred the Fiddler" for his habit of abusing boys.
The victim, who RNZ will not name, is now in his 70s. He was a 13-year-old boy when the head of the school asked him into his office.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/367124/priest-s-sexual-abuse-at-upper-hutt-school-admitted-it-s-criminal
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/367124/priest-s-sexual-abuse-at-upper-hutt-school-admitted-it-s-criminal