FORMER Hamilton Marist Brother Francis William Cable's death has been welcomed by survivors, with one advocate saying there wouldn't be many tears shed over the child sexual abuser.
Abuse survivor John Dunn is on the Corrective Services NSW Victims Register and received a call on Monday that Cable - also known as Brother Romuald - had died, aged 90.
"It's almost a shameful thing to say, but I am elated," Mr Dunn said.
"The fact that there is no chance I could ever walk into him in the street somewhere, it's a relief, it's a joy."
It is understood Cable was pronounced dead at 2am on Monday, after being found non-responsive in his cell at Long Bay Hospital, part of the correctional complex at Malabar.
Cable had been in custody since March 19, 2015.
He was jailed then for 16 years after he was found guilty of sexually abusing two Marist Brothers Hamilton students and entered guilty pleas to offences against 17 others at the Hamilton school and Marist Brothers Pagewood between the 1960 and the 1970s.
He was charged with 14 offences against another five victims in 2017, but did not plead guilty until October 2018.
He was sentenced in 2019 to a maximum of eight years in jail, with a non-parole period of five years.
His overall sentence would have expired in March 2031 and the earliest he would have been eligible for parole was March 2026.
Recently he had pleaded not guilty to a number of indecent assaults against a young boy in the 1970s.
Cable last appeared in court on those matters in June and was listed to face a trial in Newcastle District Court in June 2023.
Mr Dunn said there was a "cumulative change that happened in my psyche" when he read a victim impact statement about Cable's abuse and attended his sentencing in 2015.
"I had in my mind the image of him and me aged 13 and he was six foot two and about five foot across the shoulders and he was A grade footballer fit," he said.
"I carried that image with me until we got him to court.
"To see him as a frail broken old man with a four-pointed walking stick [helped].
"I lived with that risk after the first trial that he was now moving into the care of the prison system with great doctors and great medicine and what was to say he wasn't going to live to parole?
"I travelled with work, my family is spread across the country, I could turn up somewhere, walk into a coffee shop and come face to face with him. To know that can never happen now is a relief."
The Marist Brothers accepted during a royal commission public hearing in Newcastle in 2016 that Cable sexually abused Andrew Nash, 13, in the period before the boy died by suicide in 1974.
Andrew's mother Audrey Nash said on Monday it would take some time to process the news.
"He's responsible for my son's death," Mrs Nash said.
"He got away with [abuse] for so long, he was doing it for years before Andrew was born and then he's waiting there for him when he gets to high school... he's ruined all our family's lives. As a mother I'm so angry."
Mrs Nash said "everything changed" after Andrew's death, which happened when his siblings were 18, 17, 11 and eight.
"My husband couldn't handle it, he went to bed and never got up."
Mrs Nash said Andrew was not the only person who had been abused and died.
"There are hundreds of boys - God knows how many Romuald is responsible for."
Clergy Abused Network (CAN) chair Bob O'Toole described Cable as a "prolific offender".
"I don't know all of his victims or survivors, I only know those who have contacted CAN or who have gone to court or police, but there's a lot more than that," Mr O'Toole said.
"We know there's some links to some deaths... there may be others.
"I don't think there's too many tears being shed - at least not the couple I've spoken to."
He said he contacted everyone he knew had links to Cable - some by phone and 19 by email - and told them about support available.
"It triggers bad memories," he said.
"There's a couple who are pretty fragile who I'm a bit concerned about."
He asked the Marist Brothers for confirmation of Cable's death, but had not received it at time of publication.
A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle said Cable was a "former religious of the Marist Brothers of Australasia and was not an employee, cleric or religious" of the diocese.
She said the Marist Brothers and diocese supported CAN to employ a coordinator of healing and support and that the diocese wholly funded Healing and Support (Zimmerman Service) to help survivors and their families.
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EARLIER: 2.30PM
FORMER Hamilton Marist Brother Francis William Cable - also known as Brother Romuald - has died in custody.
Survivor John Dunn said he was on the Corrective Services NSW Victims Register and received a call on Monday morning that convicted abuser Cable, 90, had died.
"It's almost a shameful thing to say, but I am elated," Mr Dunn said.
"The fact that there is no chance I could ever walk into him in the street somewhere, it's a relief, it's a joy."
Mr Dunn said there was a "cumulative change that happened in my psyche" when he was able to read a victim impact statement about Cable's abuse in court and attend his sentencing in 2015.
"I had in my mind the image of him and me aged 13 and he was six foot two and about five foot across the shoulders and he was A grade footballer fit," he said.
"I carried that image with me until we got him to court.
"To see him as a frail broken old man with a four-pointed walking stick... [helped].
"I lived with that risk after the first trial that he was now moving into the care of the prison system with great doctors and great medicine and what was to say he wasn't going to live to parole?
"I travelled with work, my family is spread across the country, I could turn up somewhere, walk into a coffee shop and come face to face with him.
"To know that can never happen now is a relief."
Cable has been in custody since March 19, 2015.
The earliest he would have been eligible for parole was March 2026.
His overall sentence would have expired in March 2031.
Cable was jailed for 16 years in 2015 after he was found guilty of sexually abusing two Hamilton Marist students and entered guilty pleas to offences against 17 others at the Hamilton school and Pagewood Marist between 1960 and the 1970s.
He was charged with 14 offences against another five victims in 2017, but did not plead guilty until October, 2018. He was sentenced in 2019 to a maximum of eight years in jail, with a non-parole period of five years.
The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle has been contacted for comment.
More to come.
