No tags yet.
The sexual abuse Phil O'Leary suffered as a child has followed him throughout his life.
He cites broken relationships, abandoned career and study opportunities and a conviction for white collar crime as just some of the legacies of his abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest. "I've had this trouble with being able to stick at things … it was just one crisis after another over the past 30-odd years," he says.The abuse started when the priest began to visit his family home when he was 14."[The priest] groomed my parents as much as me, to inveigle himself into the family, being invited over for dinner and lunches, things like that," Mr O'Leary says.He says when his father later learned of the abuse, he was "horrified to learn that he was granting [the] hospitality of the family to a monster".PHOTO: Mr O'Leary says the abuse began when he was 14. (Supplied: Phil O'Leary)When Mr O'Leary went to the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in 2008 seeking compensation over the abuse, he was offered and signed an agreement awarding him about $40,000. Read more about this from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-31/victorian-abuse-survivors-church-settlement-legislation/10451024
