ANDREW Nash was at the heart of conversations - both literally and figuratively - when his family and friends came together to discuss the death of his abuser.
The last photo taken of Andrew, frozen in time and forever 13, sat in the middle of the table that his mother Audrey Nash, 96, brother Geoffrey Nash, sister Bernadette Nash and friends Stephen Murray and John Dunn gathered around.
Almost 48 years to the day after Andrew died by suicide in his bedroom in the Hamilton home, the life of Francis Cable - also known as Brother Romuald - ended this week in jail.
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"I'm still very distraught, it brings it all back," Mrs Nash said.
"Romuald was first picked up in the early 1950s and that was 10 years before Andrew was even born.
"He was still there in the early 1970s when Andrew started, they just moved him from school to school.
"It's still very raw. It's 48 years on October 8 since Andrew died but it's like yesterday."
Mrs Nash said Cable's death didn't undo his crimes.
"It doesn't do anything for your heartache or all the drama you've gone through since it happened," she said.
"It doesn't give me any relief because he's dead, you're still left with what you've lost.
"Just because he's dead I still haven't got Andrew and I've still got to live through that night."
Mr Nash said the only time Cable showed any emotion in court was when survivor Mr Dunn mentioned Andrew in his victim impact statement.
"He never gave evidence, he never admitted anything," Mr Nash said.
"But when John said Andrew Nash's name he visibly flinched."
Mr Dunn said he felt "relief" at Cable's death.
"He eyeballed every single one of us [in court], never diverted his eyes, appeared not to blink and the look was... icy, like 'If I could kill you right now I would'," he said.
Fellow Cable survivor Mr Murray said he felt "cheated".
"I thought 'He's had his whole life without punishment and then he only has a few years in jail and kicks off'," he said. "He got so little."
Cable had been in custody since March 19, 2015. His sentence would have expired in 2031 and the earliest he would have been eligible for parole was March 2026.
Mr Nash said the group had been discussing what would happen when Cable died since paedophile priest Vincent Ryan's death in April.
They found out on Monday through Mr Dunn, who is on the Corrective Services NSW Victims Register.
The Marist Brothers Province of Australia issued a statement this week but Mr Nash said it had not contacted them, or any other Cable survivors.
"There are Romuald victims all over Australia and they don't even know he's dead yet and they will find out by accident down the road somewhere," he said.
"That's not good enough and that's on the Marist Brothers' failure to follow best practice... they haven't even got the human decency to ring up Audrey let alone John or Stephen or anyone who was in the Romuald trial and say 'The guy is dead, we're sorry, can we do something for you?'"
Mr Nash said their family was not the only one that had lost a loved one.
"There's multiple houses with a missing teenage boy in every direction around Hamilton thanks to guys like f---ing Romuald and the Marist Brothers," he said.
Mr Nash said Cable would have abused "hundreds" of students.
He said the only person he considered more dangerous was St Pius X priest and teacher John Sidney Denham.
"Romuald is a really sadistic violent rapist, he's not just a guy who grabs people on the arse ... what we're talking about are the most despicable f---ing heinous crimes.
"[Abuse] was a weekly occurrence, year in, year out, this is not an accidental offender, this is a Ted Bundy level total sociopath... he looks human but he's not human.
"Romuald was violent and you're talking sexual gratification from torture."
Mr Dunn said Cable had a "charismatic relationship" with most parents.
"He targeted families in strife," he said.
"The results were much like I got from my parents, 'Don't be silly,' 'You're making this up', whatever it was, we were all brushed off and told to go away.
"Once he'd done his first offence and didn't get any push back he then knew he had an open book to keep going.
"If he was seen prowling, kids from within the class would flock together rather than be one single person being left alone and everybody knew who was within each individual's playpen because it was too apparent, they never hid it. It was in the open, except for when parents were around."
Mr Murray said Brother Dominic, Darcy John O'Sullivan, assaulted him in the same way once a week for two years.
"When Romuald assaulted me he came straight to me in class and he did it in exactly the same way... paedophiles will compare notes."
Mr Dunn said he told Andrew about the first assault and that he was struggling.
"I will go to my grave with the belief that he thought he couldn't burden me with his issues ... my view would be he didn't feel right telling anybody."
Mrs Nash said her son's behaviour changed in the year before he died. He became quiet and didn't want to go to school, which was out of character.
She said on the night of his death Cable was one of three brothers and three priests who arrived at her house.
She said four were later charged with crimes relating to abuse.
She said she and her children were never offered counselling.
"That was in 1974, the next time I spoke to a brother was Peter Carroll at the Royal Commission in 2014 or 2015. That's how they looked after their victims and families."
She said the family was "ostracised" and hurtful and untrue stories circulated about Andrew's death.
Bernadette Nash said the impact of losing Andrew was catastrophic.
"I lost my brother but I also lost my father and mother really because the family wasn't the same after that," she said. "My father was gone, he couldn't cope."
Mr Nash said their father had a breakdown, developed post traumatic stress disorder, drank to excess and became violent.
He said his mother was "catatonic for months". "You'd get two words. It was a complete disaster ... things were never the same after that day.
"That's the harsh reality of what happens to your family after some f---ing piece of shit like Romuald rapes and tortures and kills a member of your family. The rest of the family are just collateral damage.
"We have nightmares about finding Andrew, that's a recurring problem for me, reliving that night, that hour or two hours. The screaming ... the three girls were just screaming non-stop. It's like a wailing noise. You're just reliving that horror story."
Mrs Nash said she remembers sending her two youngest children to school. "Then I'd just sit and cry all day, then when they'd come home they'd sit and cry with me."
Mr Murray said he hadn't been able to work as an engineer for 40 years.
"The damage is just enormous," he said.
"I hid in the house for 30 years. When this happens when you're a child your brain actually grows in a different way because it diverts a lot of resources to getting ready to respond to the next one.
"I can respond to some things as if they're Brother Romuald or Brother Dominic and it can be very extreme. And it overshadows everything you're trying to do."
He kicks and screams in his sleep.
Mr Dunn said the abuse had impacted his romantic relationships and made him a workaholic.
His children had given him a reason to live.
"I can be driving down the road and glance in a car and it looks like someone from school and flashback and I'm off again," he said.
"All the thoughts go through your head again and what if and should I have done something else, should I have whatever. I don't know how I keep doing it."
Mr Dunn said the church should pay for ongoing psychological help for survivors and families.
Mr Nash agreed and said while the Marist Brothers had an "open door policy", it needed to reach out.
"They need to liquidate all their assets in Australia, all real estate and spend all of it on people like Audrey and Bernadette and Stephen and John and everyone else," he said.
"We would not let anyone else get away with this.
"Romuald is responsible for literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people who are suffering. Those people who aren't working, that costs the government, it costs our society. The Marist Brothers did the crimes and caused the damage to Australian society but then the Marist Brothers are getting society to foot the bill for damage they caused."
Mr Nash said his mother had endured a "living hell" but would "fight for justice against these guys as long as she can take a breath."
Mrs Nash first shared the story about Andrew's death in February 2013 and has received letters from and become a mother figure to others who have disclosed their abuse.
But there have been other reactions.
"We came out of Mass down at the Sacred Heart and this woman came up to me and said 'Oh well you've got your moment of glory'," she said.
"I said 'What do you mean?' and she said 'Your son's photo on the front page of the Herald'. I said 'Yeah, my dead son'."
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