Radio star's heartbreaking revelation of child sex abuse

STAFF REPORTERS, The West Australian September 25, 2009, 9:22 am

Perth radio personality Eoin Cameron has today revealed extraordinary details of sexual abuse while a student at a Catholic school in South Australia.

Speaking on ABC radio this morning, Cameron was clearly upset as he told host Geoff Hutchinson of the abuse that started within days of him arriving as a 12-year-old boarder at the boarding school.

Listen to Cameron's interview here

“Virtually from the day I arrived...my life pretty much turned to shit,” Cameron said.

“I was 12...I don’t know exactly how many days after I arrived (the headmaster) called me into his office one night, a Sunday night if I recall.

“I had my pyjamas and dressing gown on and this guy started fondling me through my pyjamas. I was so freaked. I just couldn’t believe what was happening.

“I was 12 years old but I can remember vividly the smell of his breath. The way he breathed. It was just planted in my brain. It seared into my brain. He then removed my pyjama pants and I didn’t know what he was doing behind me but it was hurting. When it finished I was crying so much that he stopped what he was doing but then I realised I had blood running down my legs and into my pyjama pants."

Cameron said he considered the ongoing acts to be rape. "He penetrated me or attempted to once, that was the first time,” he said.

“I tried to clean myself up but I couldn’t clean my pyjama pants up, there was blood through them. I buried my pyjama pants in the sludge so nobody could see the blood on them.

“I would not have known how to describe my parents what was wrong. They used to come on free weekends…I didn’t even tell him (my older brother) and they’d take us out for the day…I’d plead with mum and dad to take me home.

Cameron left school at 14 after his grades “turned to muck”. “I couldn’t concentrate, I was disruptive in classes, I was just a regular pain.”

He also claimed to know of at least one more student who was abused while at the school.

“There was another kid I knew who was getting abused…but ridiculously we didn’t talk about it. I thought he was getting equal treatment,” he said.

After leaving school, Cameron didn’t tell anyone about the abuse until he met his future wife Wendy, before getting married at 20.

He later referred vaguely to the abuse in his book, which he wrote mainly for his siblings as a record of their early years in South Australia.

When his parents read the final product, they were “devastated” to learn of the years of abuse.

“It turns out apparently they were reading it out loud to each other, as my mum describes it dad actually fell off the seat laughing at various things going on, and they got to the chapter Bastards in Black and unfortunately I hadn’t pre-warned them, perhaps I should.

“They suddenly twigged as to why I behaved so badly.”

Cameron said he had always “wrongly” assumed his abuser had been much older and would have died recently.

He said he got an email while working at ABC Radio from the school asking if he was the same pupil from their school. Cameron replied, asking after his former headmaster, only to discover he was still alive.

“That absolutely galvanised me, I thought this guy is still alive and he’s got to know that somewhere along the line there’s a reckoning.”

He pursued first an apology but later also received compensation for the abuse, with the final details being completed only six weeks ago.

“I had to identify him in a photograph as part of the investigation and that threw me for a loop.

“I just looked at the four of them (in the picture) and knew instantly…it was the one in the right hand corner. “It is so cathartic to have done it. Now that my parents know pretty much the full story….even a couple of my brothers who went to the same college and nothing happened to them. It’s almost like you’ve been vindicated.”

Saturday: Eoin Cameron speaks candidly to The West Australian

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82 Comments

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pari801 07:02am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
I am so saddened by Eoin's storey and for all the other stories that there must be..... but I must say reading some of those first comments about enforcing sharia law & stoning publicly pediphiles to death & raiding peoples homes & computers.... how weird were those comments.... WTF??? My heart goes out to all the victims & admire their capabilities to forgive.... I could only hope that if it had ever happened to me I could be so compassionate. I have no fear though that those who are never caught even in this life will eventually be punished..... if they are not punished this life they will be in another. I trust that God and whatever you may call God - Christ, Christos,Krsna,Buddha,Muhummad, Allah, Jehovah,Enlightened one etc. etc.... sees all.
debra m 06:40am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
Any form of sexual abuse is about power, not pornography, the only answer is a life sentence as age does not mean the innocent are safe. I have given my life to working with victims, we should not be tolerant to abusers
Steve 06:39am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
Castration would be a great start. I was in a catholic school from the early 80s and know of friends who were sexually assaulted. When there was fear of a teacher getting caught, they would be transferred. They always protected their own.
Leedie 05:10am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
Poland okays forcible castration for pedophiles..WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland on Friday approved a law making chemical castration mandatory for pedophiles in some cases, sparking criticism from human rights groupsUnder the law, sponsored by Poland's center-right government, pedophiles convicted of raping children under the age of 15 years or a close relative would have to undergo chemical therapy on their release from prison. All the Leaders of the WORLD should follow this LAW!!
Leedie 05:06am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
How can we protect our children! When you read things like Eoin's story... it makes you feel so sick inside... An innocent 12 year old + caring parents = thinking as a parent you want the best for your child + send them off to boarding school + a happy normal 12 year old kid = an innocent = unable to tell anyone what is happening = grades drop = behavior changes = leaves school at 14 = WHY? Because of some sick individual = a pedophile waiting for the new boys to arrive = has total control because a 12 year old is not going to tell anyone = then what happens = they may do a few years in jail! of yes then they are released back into society = Just look at the story about that sicko who was given priority housing Qld didnt want him so us here in NSW ended up with him = then they put him in the suburb of Ryde, Sydney= and guess what = close to a school across the road from a park. Come on PLEASE lets really have a good look at the law and make changes. Eoin my heart goes out to you stay strong, maybe one day the govt might step up and help all of us protect our children.
Zeplans mummy 04:20am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
porn does not make someone do this to a kid, someone is sick and deprived if they can even think about doing this to a child. i think that the hardcore porn is going to far and that can be banned, but its not soft porn that makes ppl like this. i wish our court system was harder on such ppl tho. they always get away with a compensation payout or like 5 yrs jail. they should get life where life means life. i hope by writing this book he starts to heal some of the old wounds.
MS TAXATION SERVICES 04:17am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
Islamic Shariah punishment is whats warranted for these abusers.My advise to parents is to take resposibility for your children and not to throw them away to be cared for by others no matter how reloigious they appear to be.Islam prohibits anal sex and punishes sex offenders and child sex offenders by stoning-Stoning to death is whats needed for these pervert priests.If someone has strong sexual desires and one wife is not enough he can marry more than one and legally keep his desires in check
penny y 03:32am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
Poland okays forcible castration for pedophiles: http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE58O4LE 20090925 Prime Minister Donald Tusk said late last year he wanted obligatory castration for pedophiles, whom he branded 'degenerates'. Tusk said he did not believe "one can use the term 'human' for such individuals, such creatures."
kira 01:53am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
By the way my sympathies to anyone who has been a victim of abuse. Unfortunately most victims suffer in silence and deal with guilt and pain alone even though they have done nothing wrong.That is totally unfair. When will the animals who abuse others and smuggly get away with such horrific acts be made to pay for thier crimes??!!!
kira 01:47am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
All I can say is 'Hang em high' People who have been proven to be paedophiles should incur the death penalty!! and No Bub pornography is not to blame... the perps themselves are. Millions watch porn but don't commit such crimes!!!
Heart Of Hush 12:43am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
Sadly I too have just finished writing about my experiences of sexual abuse,oral rape and sexual harrassment from a child through to young adult to older adult.. It happens everywhere, even online. http://www.heartofhush.com/assault.html
Wong 12:41am Saturday 26th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
YOU people in this filthy, permissive society have caused the paedophilia by TOLERATING PORNOGRAPHY. These desperate perverts are the dills who looked at the pornography in the first place, that YOU have tolerated and not demanded that it be eradicated. The paedophiles are desperate for a "fix" and another "fix" ad infinitum. MAKE ALL PORNOGRAPHY A CRIME. Have police bust every house and computer that has pornography in it. Until this has been done, paedophiles and paedophilia will always be present in society. CEASE BEING HYPOCRITES AND DO SOMETHING.
shweta t 10:48pm Friday 25th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
Such people deserve only capital punishment who murder the innocence and trust of young souls. All parents and would be parents should take a learning from this and make kids aware of such evils who are in the open and make them bold enough to share it with parents.
deefksnider 09:47pm Friday 25th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
all the more reason im not religious i was very close to being abused by mr baldy in the 70s i turned to religion in the 80s to seek comfort and was denided what i needed the church to this day will not openly admit it happened and still happens i was one of the lucky ones who still feels the hurt 30 years on i was lucky that as an 9 y/o child that adults who did not know me came to my rescue but i still fell the pain of almost being a victim 30 years ago any sex preditor of a child should be hung up by there balls and floged to death i dont wont to see my children go through this or any child.I still remember to this day sitting in a police station looking at photos to try to identify this animal and it still haunts me.
constance 08:38pm Friday 25th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
sex predators are found everywhere not just within the church. The church seems a convenient target for people to vent their spleen and demonise. The danger in that is we may tend to compartmentalise who we think are predators and non predators. I am not excusing the crime committed by memebrs of the church. The significant point cameron is making is that he did not know how to talk about what was happening. And that is something we have to develop to stop child sex crimes quickly. The effects and impact of the assault are pervasive and damaging, costing our society a lot more money than money set aside for preventative measures.
Dominic 07:18pm Friday 25th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
I would ask if I were any one of you out there...you local parish ; What deoes the Bible mean when the Lord says Those of you that harm and corrupt children; Better tie a stone mill round your neck and throw your self in the deepest river than to deal with me!
Dominic 07:01pm Friday 25th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
Mandatory death saentences for sexual offences is the only cureYou cannot rehabilitate these.A government I support would sustain that! Currently these evil feinds know they can get away and even be protected ,short jail terms etc. Their current instincts Ok's this liberty. Death by crucifiction.Slow agonizing days to rmember their crimes as they die.
josie c 06:42pm Friday 25th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
I agree these people should get the same punishment as murderers as they murder these young peoples youth ...Sickening and glad to see them being named....could say a lot more through family experience ...If I had a gun shoot the pigs and that is an insult to the animal........
josie c 06:42pm Friday 25th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
I agree these people should get the same punishment as murderers as they murder these young peoples youth ...Sickening and glad to see them being named....could say a lot more through family experience ...If I had a gun shoot the pigs and that is an insult to the animal........
John 06:13pm Friday 25th September 2009 WST Report Abuse
The Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope should admit their clergy are un-naturally maintained in celibacy. It is no wonder there are so many priests involved in paedophilia, its about time the church came into the 21st Century !!