Pro Bono 12

Chapter 12.

Father O'Connor was meticulous in his filing system. There are folders
under various titles, "From The Net", "My Class" and "My Children". Folder
"From The Net" mainly contained pictures of young boys of different age
groups, our guess, some could be as young as 10, and the oldest could be in
their mid or late teens, most of them nude, and engaged in various forms of
sexual activities. Some of the teens appeared to be willing participants,
but a lot of the younger ones showed signs of strain and distress, and the
total quantity of photos in this folder numbered over ten thousands, which
were collected over a period of 15 years, we are able to confirm that by
looking at their modified date.

We then click open "My Class", there are a total of 12 sub-folders in it,
each folder represents one particular kid, each photos tagged by their
given name and age, and then followed by a two letter code, there are only
two variations, 'sp' and 'sj', we collectively are trying to figure out
what they represent. Take Paul, the first picture named "Paul10sp", or Max,
"Max11sj". Some of the kids were smiling at the camera, fully clothed, but
most of the photos were taken while they were asleep, in their pyjamas,
underwears, semi or completely nude.

Then Rogerson exclaims, "My Class, that fucker was a teacher at some stage,
remember what Mrs. Wrendt told us? Ross goes to St.Paul, so, 'sp' equals
to St.Paul, sj could be St.Joseph or St.John or one of those Catholic
schools, and the number could either be their age or class, all we have to
do is check with the diocese to find out the history of his career, and it
should be a piece of cake to trace the kids who appeared in these photos"
And in my case, to find their parents, some of them could well have made
some previous complaints to their school about Father O'Connor at some
stage?

We find Ross' and another kid Peter's pictures in "My Children", there are
hundreds of Ross' pictures in it, and only twenty of Peter. You could see
the transformation of Ross, from a rather skinny and unhappy boy, gradually
growing into adulthood. Each of them tagged with his age. The earliest
ones were quite innocent, fully clothed, at picnic, at home, then getting
daring, more sinister, at swimming holes, at camp sites, in variously
states of undressing, semi or totally nude, expressed more sexuality, more
alluring, enticing smiles, quite a few with Ross appeared with a full
erection, masturbating by himself, or jerked by a faceless hand, or Ross on
his stomach, showing his long slim legs and small buttock. It spanned over
a period of eight years, from a young boy into late teens. As with Peter,
his photos identical to those of the early ones of Ross, except he is
blond, angelic, shy, no nude photos of him yet, cultivation stage? They
are his children, the children of the Monster, the sacrificial lamb. Peter
must be his latest target, obviously Ross' adulthood became a turn off for
O'Connor, time for young blood.

We then get on to Ross' computer, quite a few of Father O'Connor's pictures
on it. Some of them taken on the beach, showing off his physique of a
swimmer, he could be the PE teacher at school, a swimming coach? Some
folders contains his school assignments, but the one interests us most is
under file name "Diary". It must have been started around the time his
father left him. With a complete run down of his mother's reaction,
wailing, raging, drinking, and his own feeling of being abandoned,
wondering if he was to blame.

It went on to describe how Father O'Connor provided sanctuary for him, away
from his mother's alcohol induced rage and depression, how Father O'Connor
gave him comfort, reassured him, encouraged him to keep faith, to continue
his schooling, helped him with his school works. Father O'Connor was a
Saint if not for the events that followed.

Then came the entries describing the many nights he slept over at
O'Connor's place, the hugs, the cuddles, the kisses. He felt he was once
again loved by someone, a surrogate father, and no longer an abandoned
child.

Slowly the arrangement of sleep over progressed to nights they were
sleeping naked together, then came the first time he touched O'Connor's
private part, the strange feeling of touching an adult male body, the
differences, in size, hairs, muscle, and the sticky stuff came out of
O'Connor. The sensation of being touched by O'Connor, the funny itch, the
feeling of wanting to piss, how he wanted to do it again immediately after
his first orgasm. O'Connor told him he was his most special friend, their
love were sacred, not to be shared, not to be told, just between the two of
them.

One night O'Connor told him it could be painful, but he must bear it,
because it was nothing when compared with what Jesus had to suffer on the
cross. O'Connor said "bite my arm if you like, I want to share your pain
and suffering". O'Connor applied plenty of sticky stuff, at first it was
very very painful, but he remembered what Father O'Connor said, he wanted
to feel the pain of the Christ, he bit O'connor on his forearm. The pain
gradually eased, the uncomfortable feeling of wanting to shit followed, he
heard O'Connor grunted, "he was sharing my pain", Ross noted, the
withdrawal of the flesh, the feeling of seepage of cool liquid out of his
backside. O'Connor later took his private part in his mouth, the earlier
pain was forgotten, he ascended to heaven, "he even swallowed my sperm".

It became their regular events, twice weekly, O'Connor's staple diet. What
interest us most is the entry the week before he killed O'Connor.

O'Connor became very distant the week before he was killed, no longer
wanted Ross to stay overnight there. Telling him he should start taking up
more responsibility towards his mother, to stay at his own home instead of
O'connor's. He had another child to look after, Peter, who's fathered died
in an car accident. He found new flesh. Ross was angry, he thought he and
O'Connor were closer than family, closer than anyone in his life, they
shared something special, a sacred love. Now came along this new kid
Peter, Ross knew nothing about him, he didn't want to know. But this
latest rejection by O'Connor paralleled the experience to the loss of his
father to another woman, once again he was abandoned. He was going to beg
O'Connor the next day to reconsider, "I will tell Father that I will do
anything for him". No more entries after that.

"I think it is a clear case of manslaughter. We should consider fast
tracking to put the case to Criminal Court, do you wish to apply for bail?
I personally wouldn't try to oppose bail, and I will put in good words to
the DPP"

"Thanks, detective, by the way, how are you going to handle the media, I
think a few of them already got winds that the killing might have something
to do with a pedophiliac priest and young boys. I personally don't mind
leaking some of the information on the computers to them, provided of
course the Privacy Law provision is fully respected"

"You little devil, James, you want to swing the public opinion and sympathy
towards your client"

"Nothing wrong with that, detective, besides, we both know this is a case
of Crime of Passion, and the deceased was the manipulative party preyed on
young boys, my client was a victim of this saintly predator"

My biggest concern at this moment is Ross' state of mind, I think he is a
bit suicidal, and his mother is not much of a help either. I don't think
social welfare would be any good, sending him into a temporary foster home
is not going to help. I find myself outside of Mrs. Markey's residence
once again, I ring the door bell, the door opens with Mrs. Wrendt standing
in front of me.

"Oh, James, come on in, I'm here to help out a bit, trying to put some food
into her, you know what, something must have happened to her since her
visit to Ross, she stops drinking altogether, this awful thing about her
son killing Father O'Connor must have shaken her up enormously, something
good comes out of a horrible event, how ironicaly"

I can smell cooking of food in the house. When Roslyn sees me, she jumps
on her feet and starts asking "Oh Mr. Menzie, is Ross OK? When can we get
him out of custody? What will they charge him with?"

"He is under close observation at the station, he should be safe. The case
shoud be put to trial pretty soon, Det. Rogerson is going to fast track it.
The charge is manslaughter. Just a warning, Mrs. Markey, there will be
some media reports on the case soon, and the evidence so far reflects
Father O'Connor in a very bad light, most certainly he was involved in some
pedophiliac activities and Ross was one of his victim". She and
Mrs. Wrendt are in genuine disbelief.

"This discovery is going to work towards our advantage in the defence of
Ross. I'll apply bail for Ross as soon as the case goes in front the the
Magistrate, and would you mind if I notify his father about the whole
situation? I know you have no contact with him since the divorce, but
knowing what we know now, this business with Father O'Connor probably
stemmed from his lack of a father figure in his life, I'm hoping with the
support from both of his parents, it might help him to get through this
very difficulty period in his life".

"I don't know if John, his father, wants to get involved in Ross life,
after so many years. He has been paying child maintanenace over the years
without failure though. I admit it is me who refuse to let father and son
make contact. Only if I have paid a little bit more attention to Ross'
need," she starts to cry, "yes, you have my permission to contact his
father, and I will try my best to control my anger towards John, you are
right what you said earlier, Mrs. Wrendt, I must move on, I must get a
life, and I want to do the right thing for Ross from now on, this mess,
it's all my fault, my drinking, my self indulgence". I get the contact
details off Roslyn.


(To be continued.....)