A Catholic brother accused of sexually abusing an Altona Meadows woman as a child has been charged with 14 counts of indecent assault.
Brother Bernard Hartman, 73, was arrested at Melbourne Airport after arriving from the US yesterday morning.
Taskforce Sano detectives allege the offences happened at schools in the western suburbs of Melbourne during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Mairead Ashcroft, 48, went to the church nearly 15 years ago alleging that Hartman had abused her from the ages of eight to 11.
The Marianist Brother was the Ashcroft family’s babysitter and also saw Ms Ashcroft during Saturday classes at St Paul’s College in Altona North.
The charges relate to Ms Ashcroft, another woman and two men, aged between eight and 16 at the time of the alleged abuse.
Detective Senior Sergeant Michael Dwyer, of Taskforce Sano, said the Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese had been instrumental in helping Victoria Police in this matter.
It is believed that Hartman is the first Catholic clergy member brought back to Australia to face justice.
On January 18, 2010, Altona North police visited Ms Ashcroft to tell her that extradition laws between Australia and the US had changed.
They asked if she wanted to pursue complaints against Hartman, who was still working as a Marionist.
“I said, ‘Absolutely’,” Ms Ashcroft said.
Last November, Ms Ashcroft gave evidence before the Victorian inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.
Ms Aschroft testified that she reported her abuse in 1999 when her two eldest children, a twin boy and girl aged eight, were making their first Holy Communion.
“I first disclosed to the St Mary’s Altona church pastoral care worker, a nun, in 1999,” Ms Ashcroft said.
“I thought that due to mandatory reporting of childhood sexual abuse the church would take it further.”
In 2003, Ms Ashcroft made a statement at Sunshine police station.
In 2010, she was diagnosed at the Royal Melbourne Hospital with dissociative disorder and psychogenic seizures.
She was prescribed the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel to stop her acting out nightmares. The mother-of-four said her physical and emotional pain was invisible to everyone except her husband John and their three children.
Hartman remains in the Melbourne custody centre as arrangements are being made for his criminal justice visa. He is scheduled to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on November 28.
