Paul Hersbach kept his composure until the end.
He, like all the 351 victims of child sexual abuse who have lodged claims to the Catholic Church’s Melbourne Response, had been forced to tell their stories to strangers before.
The first time he spoke about his abuse in detail, it was to two people at Carelink, the Melbourne Response’s counselling arm, to explain why he needed access to its services as a primary victim, not a secondary victim. He found this confronting and “exceptionally traumatic”.
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