Jesuit Offenders Intro.
  P.J. Stephenson s.j.
    Peter Beer s.j.
  Noel Bradford s.j.
  Willi Kovac
  John Byrne s.j.
  Joseph Craig s.j.
  Richard Galbraith s.j.
Paul Schulze s.j.
Brenton Lewis s.j.
W. "Bill" Marum
Eldon Hogan
  Tim. Carter s.j.
Philip. Wallbridge s.j.
  G. (Mac) Larkin s.j.
Richard (Donal) Lane s.j.
  Henry Sneddon s.j.
Brian Purcell s.j.
  Stan Hogan s.j.
Larry Kean
  J.R. Boylan s.j.
Michael O’Mahoney s.j.
  Victor Higgs s.j.
  Peter Quin s.j.
  Celso Romanin s.j.
Brian O'Reilly
Glen Walls
Boarders Master A
  Theo Overberg s.j.
  Peter Kelly s.j.
James McInerny s.j.
David Rankin s.j.
  Patrick O'Sullivan s.j.
Lawrence Leonard s.j.
  Paul McMahon
  Leo Flynn SJ
  Stephen Hamra
  Philip Astley SJ
  Colin Fearon
  Kevin Carroll s.j.
  Peter Bohrsmann
  W. "Bill" James

PERSONS OF INTEREST
  Walter Logue SJ
  Malcolm Joseph

Convicted Sex Abuser

Victor Higgs s.j.

Convicted.

Dates from the Warren Report Chronology:
14 August 1963 Victor Higgs (Higgs) enters the Society of Jesus (Society).
15 August 1965 Higgs takes his first vows in the Society
1966 –1967 Higgs works at Loyola College, Watsonia. His roles include 'assistant manuductor, dispensary, buyer, care of chooks, housework'.
1968 –1970: Higgs teaches at St Ignatius College, Athelstone
1971 –1981: Higgs teaches at St Ignatius College,Riverview
1982: Higgs works at Campion College
1983: Higgs works at St Albans, Victoria
1984–1985: Higgs works at the Jesuit Theological College (JTC), Parkville
1986 –1990: Higgs teaches at Xavier College, Melbourne


♦ Marilyn_Warren_Victor_Higgs_report
Broken Rites story
The Jesuits covered up for an abusive Brother and merely moved him to another school

♦ Findings of the review into the movement of former Jesuit brother Victor Higgs jesuit.org.au
♦ youtube video link

♦ Riverview College letter to the Community
1968 - 1970 at St Ignatius College in Athelstone, Adelaide

After a complaint by a parent in Adelaide, the Jesuits transferred Brother Higgs
to St Ignatius Riverview

1971 - 1981 . At St. Ignatius, Riverview, he would summon students from Sydney's Riverview College to private locations in the school or his beach house at Gerroa on the NSW South Coast.
1986 - 1989 . Victor Higgs was the Junior Border Master at Xavier College and then was the Secretary of the Old Xaverians Association in 1989.
1990 Xavier College Br. Victor Higgs s.j. Years 5-8 Spiritual Director
He was in Adelaide - He sexually assaulted boys.
He was in Sydney - He sexually assaulted boys.
Then he was at Xavier, Melbourne - Haven't heard of any complaints yet.

A Riverview ex-student reports:
"While finding Higgs creepy there was never an incident with him.
However I do remember he was the school bursar and you had to go to him to withdraw any of the pocket money that your parents had given you.
For reasons apparent now, all of the kids had to go into his bedroom to withdraw money.
He kept some cash in there and a book where he would keep a record of your individual account.
He would initiate conversations on these visits, I don't remember anything of a sexual nature however there was some uncomfortable closeness and possibly some touching on the leg or knee maybe. "

Victor Higgs was working as the Boarding Master – a position which afforded him practically unlimited access to the students. He was a predator at the school, so much so that students banded together to protect each other from this monster.
At Riverview, Higgs would have boys brought to his room to sit with him on his bed for a lesson on sex and masturbation. Higgs was a big, fat man who was nicknamed ‘Porky’.
His awkward bedroom chats were called ‘Porky talks’ by the boarders.
These chats would turn sinister when the students were ordered to undress and perform sexual acts.
♦ Kelso Lawyers - Paedophile Offender: Victor “Porky” Higgs
Comment from: "Xavver" Sunday 2nd of February 2020 06:47:14 AM
"I emailed Fr Brian McCoy on 17 Dec 2018 to ask if Marilyn Warren CJ's investigation into
Brother Victor Higgs would look into how and why he was at Xavier in the late 1980s.

I started at Xavier as a boarder in 1987 in year 10. Higgs was an assistant boarding master
in the junior boarding house (years 9 and 10) in '87. He was an obese, petulant,
emotionally cold or dead man. After molesting his way around Riverview's boarding house in the 1970s
and then disappearing overseas to some retreat/safe house from 81 to 86 or so,
it seemed relevant to ask why the hell he was patrolling past my bed after dark a couple of nights a week.

I heard he went to the US in the early 80s, in Arizona or New Mexico I think.
(that sounds like Jemez Springs, New Mexico, run by a small Roman Catholic congregation known as the Servants of the Paraclete.*)

Anyway so Simon Davies, Director of Professional Standards at Australian Jesuits
called me back the same day as I emailed Fr McCoy. He explained (correctly)
that Warren CJ could widen the investigation into that question
I asked if my email could be forwarded to Warren CJ, he said it would be.
Now I find out Warren's report only looked at His arrival at Riverview in about 1971,
after being found guilty of child sex offences in Adelaide.

The report has not been released even in redacted form. (it has since)
So the bullshit and the refusal to look too closely at anything where a decision-maker might still be alive continues. Ffs."


* ♦ Jemez Springs - New York Times article
* ♦ Jemez Springs - bishop-accountability.org

Broken Rites has been told that, in the late 1980s, the Jesuits had Higgs at their Melbourne school, Xavier College.
A former Xavier student (let's call him "Rupert") has told Broken Rites:
"I was a boarder at Xavier College, Melbourne in 1987-1989. Brother Higgs was at Xavier College in these years.
Higgsy was one of the boarding school staff for the Year Nine and Ten boarding house.
He was the night-time supervisor two nights a week. So, well done, Jesuits — they took a paedophile with a history
of abusing kids in Adelaide and Sydney and put him into a boarding house in Melbourne as a supervisor."

Broken Rites asked Rupert to find further information about Br Higgs at Xavier.
Later, Rupert emailed Broken Rites thus:

"I have found a copy of the Xavier College year book ('The Xaverian') for 1988 at my parents' house.
The year book demonstrates that Brother Victor Higgs was indeed at Xavier at that time.
The staff list on page 94 has 'Br. V. Higgs' as a member of 'The Jesuit Community'.
He is also listed (under the heading 'Spiritual Directors') as the spiritual director for Year 7.
I presume this means he was giving spiritual counselling to boys aged 12 to 13.
The idea that a convicted paedofile was given this role after his activities in Adelaide and Sydney is repellant."

♦ Broken Rites LINK


Victor Higgs with under 13 Riverview basketball team.

9 October 2018 (press report)
Vile teacher, 81, is let out on BAIL despite being found guilty of abusing boys at a
prestigious Christian college and telling them "this is between you and me"
A former teacher at an elite Christian school has been let out on bail despite being
convicted of sexually abusing six teenage boys more than four decades ago.


A court heard Victor Higgs, 81, would summon students from Sydney's Riverview College
to private locations in the school or his beach house at Gerroa on the NSW South Coast between 1972 and 1980.
The students were then told to perform sexual acts or strip, jurors heard,
with Higgs warning one victim: 'don't mention this to anyone.
This is between you and me.'
Despite the conviction, the 81-year-old walked free on bail prior to sentencing after
arguing he had health issues that needed attending to.

The jury at the Downing Centre heard Higgs had already served a year in jail in South Australia, according to Channel 9.
He had been sentenced for indecently assaulting two boys in the state in the 1960s and 1970s before working at the Sydney school.
Leaving court, Higgs refused to answer questions or admit responsibility for the pain he had caused to the schoolboys.
He will be sentenced in November.
The college, located on the city's north shore, counts former prime minister Tony Abbot among its alumni.
www.dailymail.co.uk

November 24 2018
'Rot in hell': Victims cheer as priest handcuffed in court
Victims of 'deviant' paedophile priest Victor Higgs cheered and told the 81-year-old to 'rot in hell' as he was sentenced to jail.
Victims of a former Jesuit teacher with a "deviant interest" in 12-year-old boys cheered in court as the 81-year-old was handcuffed and led off to spend at least seven-and-a-half-years in prison.

"I hope he rots in hell — in actual fact hell is too good for him. He is evil,"
one of Victor Thomas Higgs' former schoolboy victims said in a statement.
Higgs — who has been convicted for molesting boys at Sydney's exclusive St Ignatius College Riverview
and its brother school in Adelaide — is regarded as one of the Australian Catholic Church's worst sexual predators.

"See you later," one man yelled out as the obese, white-haired Higgs, walking with a cane,
was escorted out by prison officers down to the court cells.
Higgs, who made a "purring-like sound" as he assaulted boys, was "a wrecking ball in our lives"
at Riverview and St Ignatius College, Adelaide, known as Athelstone.

The former teacher was found guilty of 16 indecent assault charges against six boarders
between 1971 and 1981 at Riverview on Sydney's Lower North Shore.
He had been transferred to the prestigious school — alma mater to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott,
former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce and one-time NSW premier Nick Greiner — after abusing boys at Athelstone.

Mr Joyce told The Australian after the verdict that he and other Riverview boarders
knew Higgs was a "creep" and banded together to protect each other from him.
At Higgs' sentencing hearing in the Downing Centre District Court on Friday,
he avoided eye contact with his victims in the courtroom.

Judge Christopher Robison said, "clearly there is no remorse or contrition or real empathy for any of his victims".
Judge Robison said Higgs targeted very young boys in carefully planned attacks in his
bedroom or office in the Riverview boarding school and at a NSW beach house.

"He was trawling the seas for the weak and vulnerable," the judge said.
Higgs had used "meticulous, detailed planning. The offender knew what he wanted to get and
that was his own personal sexual gratification."
Judge Robison said the victims "sadly" did not get any protection from the school.

The court heard the devastating impact of Higgs's predatory behaviour had caused decades
of relationship and intimacy issues, anxiety, substance abuse, shame and distrust.

Higgs' trial heard that one of the former boarding master's ruses was to pretend he was
giving the boys physical and sex education.
In one incident, he told a young boy he needed to inspect how he was progressing through puberty and ordered the boy to undress completely.

Higgs then touched various parts of the boy's body, saying "you will grow hair here" and then cupping the student's genitals.
He progressed to sexual penetration with some boys.
Aged 34 at the time of his first offence at Riverview which went to trial, Higgs initially came across to boys as plump and jovial.

His sexual offending against boys was uncovered when an Athelstone student told his mother,
who complained to the school and Higgs was removed — and sent to Riverview in Sydney.
In 2016, Higgs served 12 months in a South Australian prison for his crimes against Athelstone boys in the 1960s.
In March 2016, Provincial of the Jesuits, Father Brian McCoy, issued a statement condemning the conduct of Higgs.

"We condemn any abuse of children or young people, and offer an unreserved apology for
the trauma caused by any Jesuit who betrayed others in this way," he said.
"Victor Higgs taught at a number of schools … the records that are available have been reviewed.
(Does that mean there are no records about him at Xavier College?)

"To date, we have no evidence that Victor Higgs' move related to the events to which he
subsequently pleaded guilty. However, we cannot discount this possibility."
Police credit one of Higgs' Riverview victims, Peter, with Higgs being brought to justice.

More than 40 years after he was abused, Peter reported Higgs' crime to NSW Police in 2011.
This followed a conversation Peter had at Royal Adelaide Hospital with a fellow St Ignatius student who had been abused by Higgs.
"I thought, 'that means there are two people'," Peter said. "I went to the police and reported it."

The successful prosecutions of Higgs in both states arose from that complaint and subsequent police investigations.


By a Broken Rites researcher,
article updated on 25 February 2017
Jesuit priests and brothers operate some of Australia's most prominent schools,
with famous ex-students such as former prime minister Tony Abbott.

After Brother Victor Higgs committed sexual offences against boys at one of these schools
(St Ignatius College, Adelaide), the Jesuits kept Brother Higgs as a member of the Jesuit Order
and moved him to their famous Sydney school (St Ignatius College Riverview).

One of the Adelaide victims finally reported Brother Higgs to the South Australian police
and, in 2016, Higgs was jailed for some of his Adelaide offences. Now, in 2017, Higgs
is being prosecuted by New South Wales police regarding alleged offences
by Brother Higgs while he was at the Sydney school.

Sydney's Riverview has a long list of well-known ex-students who have gone on to carve
out distinguished careers in politics, law and professional sport.
Apart from former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, other Riverview students include federal minister
for agriculture Barnaby Joyce and former NSW Premier Nick Greiner.

Others include Chief Justice Tom Bathurst of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
and Australian Test fast bowler Jackson Bird.
Likewise, St Ignatius College Adelaide has some famous ex-students,
including former federal Coalition leader Brendan Nelson,
federal Coalition minister Christopher Pyne and leading legal figures
like Federal Court Judge Anthony Besanko.

Brother Victor Higgs.
According to statements made in the Adelaide District Court in 2016,
Victor Thomas James Higgs was born in the late 1930s, the youngest of nine children.

After a period of training with the Jesuits, he became a Brother in the Australia-wide Jesuit religious order in 1963,
aged in his twenties.
He later spent three years working at St Ignatius College in Athelstone,
Adelaide (1968 to 1970, inclusive, when he was aged around 30).
He mostly did administrative duties for the school, although he taught some classes
(for example, in religious education and in commerce).

After a complaint by a parent in Adelaide, the Jesuits transferred Brother Higgs
to St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, where he spent ten years.
The Jesuits kept him as a member of the Jesuit religious order until he retired in Sydney in 2001.

The offences in AdelaideHiggs was interviewed by South Australian police in
early 2013 regarding boys from St Ignatius, Adelaide. When charged, Higgs indicated
that would plead not guilty, meaning that he would fight the charges in court.

Eventually, nearly three years later, he changed his plea to guilty, which meant that
no trial would be needed (a judge would merely have to impose a sentence).
On 29 January 2016, Higgs (aged 78) was sentenced in the Adelaide District Court
for indecent assault of two boys at St Ignatius Adelaide (one charge for each boy).

These were not the only allegations that police had made against Higgs in Adelaide.
These two charges were those to which he finally agreed to plead guilty.Judge Gordon Barrett
sentenced Higgs to a maximum jail sentence of two years and three months jail.

He said that Higgs would be able to apply for parole after serving one year behind bars.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Barrett told Higgs: "The first [charge] involved a boy
who would have been about 12 at the time. You took him into your room,
made him take down his pants and there fondled his genitals.

You did so on the pretext of giving him sexual counselling and assessing his development.
You touched him on only that one occasion.
"In relation to the other boy, he was about the same age. He had misbehaved in class.
You made him turn up at the canteen where you got him to take his pants down and bend over.
He was expecting to be caned for his misdemeanour.
Instead you touched his buttocks with a feather duster.
The boy asked you what you were doing. You told him to get out.
He reported the matter to his parents who raised it with the school.

Whether as a result of that report or for some quite other reason, I am not sure,
but you left the college in Adelaide and moved to a brother school in Sydney.
"While the two offences consist of a single episode of touching each boy in the
ways that I have described, and it is not alleged that you touched other boys,
your behaviour has to be seen in a context.

That context is that you used to get boys into a private room, make them take down
their pants and look at their genitals. You engaged them in sexual talk. All of this,
the charged and the uncharged acts, were on the pretext of checking the boys'
development or counselling them, but it is quite plain that you were doing nothing of the sort.

You were engaging the boys in this way for your own sexual gratification.
"The reaction of the two boys to your offending is instructive.
The first boy appears to have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of another teacher
at the school and so it is hard to separate the effects of your offending from the
effects of the other teacher's offending.

However, his account of what happened after he came out of your room where you had
indecently assaulted him is indicative of the consequences of your offending.
Other students noticed the boy come out of the room. They asked him if he had let you touch him.

Whatever his response, the other students assumed he had.
He was taunted, suggesting he [the boy] was a homosexual.
It appears your proclivities were widely known among the students.
That boy's trust in teachers and trust in that school has been damaged forever.
It has caused frictions in his own family. When he disclosed what had happened to them,
they either did not want to know about it or they told him to get over it.

He has continuing anger. In addition, although this may have more to do with the
offending by the other teacher, he has had some sensitivities in his personal life.
"The other boy's reaction was different. He stood up to you.
He immediately told his parents. His parents did something about it.
He has not provided a victim impact statement.
I do not know, but it is possible that he has not been affected in the same way as the first boy.
However, that is just chance..."Judge Barrett said that originally Higgs claimed to the police that,
in his encounters with the boys, he had merely been "counselling" them about sexual matters.

In sentencing, Judge Barrett told Higgs: "You did tell the police that you had counselled boys about sexual matters,
but in that interview there is a surprising lack of insight into your own motivations
and the likely harm that you were causing the students.
You really conceded no more than that you went about a legitimate task in the wrong way.
"You have entered your guilty pleas at a very late stage...
"I will give you the credit that the law entitles you to for your guilty pleas.

It is up to 10%. A more timely guilty plea would have reduced the anxiety of the victims
and the witnesses further, and would have entitled you to a greater leniency...
"This is serious offending. It was a breach of trust for you to behave as you did to these boys.
If you did not know before, you know now of the consequences that your offending can have,
and has had. You are to be sentenced only for two charges to which you have pleaded.

Each is a single act of indecent touching but the acts do have to be understood in their context.
"The maximum penalty for indecent assault at the time was seven years imprisonment.
I must sentence you on the law as it was then.

I will impose one prison sentence for both offences but take both into account.
If it were not for your guilty pleas, I would have sentenced you to two-and-a-half years imprisonment.
I reduce that by about 10% to two years and three months. I fix a non-parole period of one year.

"The question of suspension [that is, postponing the jail term] is a difficult one.
You are elderly and in ill health. You have no other court appearances.
In many ways, you have led a productive life. On the other hand, your behaviour was a gross breach of trust.
The students and their parents were entitled to your protection, not your abuse.

"I think the offending is too serious for me to be able to suspend the sentence.
I have shown what leniency I can in fixing the non-parole period which is lower than I would otherwise have fixed.
You will have to serve the sentence. It will begin to run from today.

Charged again in Sydney in 2017In a Sydney court on 31 January 2017,
Victor Higgs was charged with indecently assaulting children during his time at St Ignatius College,
Riverview.Higgs (now 79) did not enter a plea during a brief court mention after being extradited from South Australia.

Higgs has been charged with four counts of indecent assault, allegedly involving three Sydney victims, between 1978 and 1980.


Sydney Morning Herald article March 23, 2015 ♦ www.smh.com.au
Child sex abuse at St Ignatius College, Riverview: Investigation launched into historic allegations
An investigation has been launched into allegations of child sexual abuse at one of Sydney's most prestigious private schools dating back more than 30 years.

St Ignatius' College, Riverview on Monday sent a letter to its old boys informing them that a former student had made allegations which principal Paul Hine said had now been reported to the NSW police force.

The only detail of the allegation contained in the letter is that it concerned "child sexual abuse over 30 years ago".

Dr Hine said it was with "some sadness" that he wrote to the school community about the allegation which had been passed on to him from the professional standards office of the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus.

"There are clear limits on what I am able to reveal about the allegations," Dr Hine wrote. "Despite this, I believe it important to inform you about the situation as I understand it and to offer reassurance that such matters are the object of direct and sustained vigilance at the school."

Dr Hine said he would also be informing current students about the allegations.

He said Riverview took seriously its duty of care to the entire school community and that their procedures to safeguard students were of the highest standard.

Anyone with concerns related to child abuse or other "professional standards matters" should contact the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus or Dr Hine personally, he wrote.

"For a long time Riverview has had a proud history of education and care for boys," Dr Hine wrote. "This situation presents a salient reminder of the need to protect our young people both in policy and in practice."

The north shore private school boasts notable alumni including Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher. Former NSW premier Nick Greiner and federal minister Barnaby Joyce also attended.

In 1997 a teacher at the school, Peter Bohrsmann took his own life on school grounds after a detailed complaint was made to police about him.

The 57-year-old classics teacher, himself a former pupil, was found dead in his car with the engine running close to the Jesuit school's boat shed. His body was discovered two days after he had protested his innocence when confronted about the anonymous allegation.

It is not know if the current allegation before police relates to that matter or a separate incident.

Comment was being sought from the NSW police.