Brother Gerard Joseph McNamara

Brother Gerard McNamara was born on 9 March 1938. He joined the Marist Brothers straight from school at the age of 18 in 1956. As a teacher with the Marist Brothers, he taught/served at the following schools/places throughout his career:

  • St Patrick's College Sale (1960-4);

  • Wangaratta, Victoria (1965-6);

  • Bendigo, Victoria (1967);

  • Red Bend College Forbes, NSW (1968);

  • St Paul's College Traralgon, Vic (1970-6);

  • Mt Gambier, South Australia (1978-80);

  • Preston, Victoria (1980-5);

  • Shepparton, Victoria (1986-92);

  • Sale, Victoria (1993-9);

  • Preston, Victoria (2002-3); and

  • Sale, Victoria (2003).

In 2005, Brother McNamara was convicted of seven counts of indecently assaulting a male under 16 between 1972 and 1975 when he was teacher at St Paul’s College in Traralgon. He was given a 36-month jail sentence but was suspended upon the Marist Brothers successfully appealing the sentence. He was however, placed on the sex offenders list. The court heard that Brother McNamara was often a violent teacher who used a strap or switch frequently. On occasions, he would take students to a bedroom near his office to abuse them or to a nearby sports shed. Furthermore, the court heard that when Brother McNamara was the sports master at St Paul’s Catholic College, he would often abuse many of the students on a massage bench who had endured injuries from sports/athletics.

In 2016, Brother McNamara was again given a 16-month suspended sentence by the Victorian County Court after admitting to indecently assaulting two brothers in 1975. Both brothers were under the age of 16 at the time and students of St Paul’s College.

In 2018, Brother McNamara (at the age of 80) appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court again over charges of sexually abusing a young boy who was not a student of his. He was sentenced to 9 months in jail.

Moody Law has in the past represented and is still representing clients who were sexually abused by members of the Marist Brothers at various institutions.

We invite former victims, students, teachers, and parents to tell us confidentially what information they may have, and we will explain what options are available to help with these cases.

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