I went to a boarding school in rural Australia which had a problem with the leading brothers abusing kids, a problem that went on for decades. The older of us would try to protect the younger, but there was only so much we could do. At the time the police were very closely tied with the school and turned a blind eye to all but the worst behaviour, and it took one hell of a lot of effort to even have that exposed.
Thankfully, through the long work of some of my schoolmates from the time the problems have come to light and reparations are being made. Back in the 70s and 80s we were powerless kids, though.
After I left school, one of the worst of the brothers was clearly still active. A few of us wanted revenge that’d hurt him. Not too long after, we were informed of the dates he took for a choir tour, during the Christmas break.
At the beginning of that summer, we went and collected meat, milk, dog shit, and all manner of stinky items and broke into his car (he had this 1960s mercedes he was all too proud of), and placed it under the seats to ferment in the heat.
A couple of days later we realised roadkill would do a great number on it, and we dropped the better part of a whole kangaroo in the back seat.
And so it went on for another six weeks until he returned. Foxes, roos, wallabies, possums, rabbits, birds of all kinds and a couple of tortoises, we stacked the inside of his merc with roadkill up to the dash. By the end we needed to mask ourselves to even approach the car, the stench was coming out the vents.
Our quarry returned, and we heard nothing of the car or the attack until a fortnight later when he disappeared. No information on where he went, where he moved to, what became of him until the 2000s when some of his deeds became public, and so many adults came out of the woodwork with the knowledge of support, and he stood no chance. Last I heard he was still in gaol.
For a while, I regretted what I helped do. I felt I should have done more, and instead of playing around behind the scenes doing the (somewhat heavy handed) passive aggressive thing, I should have worked hard to bring this man undone, speaking to others affected has made me realise none of us ever had the power to do that alone, and it was only after half a lifetime and a complete swing in the country’s culture against respect for institutions like my old school, that it could successfully be exposed.
Now, I’m proud of the small part I played in making his life hell.
via Went to a school where the brothers took liberties with kids. We made one quit. : ProRevenge.
