Abuse ‘disproportionate’

Dunedin victims of church abuse were likely to number even more than those shown in national figures released on Tuesday, a survivor’s advocate has said.

The Catholic Church had released the figures which showed 1122 survivors had laid almost 1700 complaints naming almost 600 perpetrators of abuse.

Male Survivors Otago manager Michael Chamberlain said the scale of the abuse did not reflect what had happened locally, with victims likely at a higher percentage than the national figures.

In Dunedin it’s disproportionate, because of the number of institutions and the number of people that have registered their abuse.

While Tuesday’s figures had been released by the Catholic Church itself, Mr Chamberlain was unconvinced that represented a shift in approach from the church in response to the abuse issue.

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