Loretta Lohberger

2 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Loretta Lohberger

Peter Cotton was in his first weeks at a Catholic boarding school in Perth in the 1960s when he was sexually abused by his class teacher. That teacher was then-Christian Brother Daniel McMahon. WARNING: This story deals with trauma and child sexual abuse. Later, in 2002, Mr Cotton found out McMahon had moved to Tasmania in the 1990s to become a priest, and he was compelled to act. Mr Cotton made a complaint about McMahon to the Archdiocese of Hobart, hoping he would be removed as a priest.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Loretta Lohberger

A man suing the Christian Brothers in the Supreme Court of Tasmania has settled his case part-way through the civil trial. The man previously told the court he had been sexually and physically abused while a student at St Virgil's College in Hobart. The settlement details are being finalised. A civil court matter involving allegations of sexual and physical abuse at a Hobart Catholic school in the late 1970s and early 1980s has been resolved part-way through the trial.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Loretta Lohberger

A man who alleges he was sexually and physically abused while a student at a Catholic school in Hobart has told a court he felt like he was "going to die" during one of the alleged assaults. WARNING: This story contains details of alleged sexual abuse which may cause distress. Callum*, now aged in his 50s, was a student at St Virgil's College from 1977 until 1981. He is suing the Christian Brothers, the religious order that ran the school at the time, in the Tasmanian Supreme Court.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Loretta Lohberger

A coal mining project proposed for Tasmania's north-east by a self-described "righteous" company has been abandoned, after the company failed to pay a year's worth of rent. Paladin Hydrogen, owned by Queensland businessman Dave Hodgson, who credits his success with "doing God's will, God's way", had planned to mine 1 million tonnes of coal per year near Fingal to fuel a proposed hydrogen plant at Bell Bay.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Loretta Lohberger

Tasmanians have banded together to help those who left their homes as bushfires threatened communities in the state's west. Residents from Zeehan who evacuated when their town was subject to an emergency warning on Thursday afternoon sought shelter in Queenstown. Ian Robertson, who manages the West Coast Wilderness Railway, said the business stayed open as evacuees turned up just before closing time.