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Historical abuse suffered at the hands of some fellow students and staff at Dilworth School have been outlined to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care.

Neil Harding, who is 55, went to the Anglican boarding school in Auckland in 1977.

A number of men are before the courts charged with indecent assault relating to historical abuse at the school.

Harding was 11-years-old when he started at Dilworth.

He describes it has a harsh military-style establishment that brutally punished those who did not conform immediately to the Dilworth way.

It was brutal and I saw quite quickly there was injustice. There was all sorts of stuff going on that was a real shock to me.

Harding said the boys were not treated as individuals and were often referred to by just a number.

He said the culture in his dormitory was a free for all.

The older kids did just what they wanted to the younger kids and I just don’t think we were supervised adequately I would say. The degree of supervision allowed the boys to do what they did. It was a consequence of whatever supervision was or wasn’t.

A lot of the violence was student-on-student, he said.

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A former Christ’s College student sexually assaulted and abused by other students in the 1970s says it was “systematic deliberate abuse” designed to shame him.

Jim Goodwin attended the Christchurch school as a boarder from 1970 to 1974 and told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in Auckland on Monday about the assault by other students that left him fearing for his life.

He said it happened as part of a ritual at the school known as hauling. Senior students would punish more junior pupils if they felt they had been disrespected.

Goodwin said he accidentally bumped into a senior student entering the lunch hall when he was in fifth form (year 11). He was told he was going to be “hauled” and taken to the student study.

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A man has presented a harrowing testimony of being terrified as a boy for every day of school through two years, at the Abuse in Care inquiry.

Known only as John, the 52 year said he was sexually abused 40 years ago at the Marist-run Xavier Intermediate School in Christchurch, between 1980 and 1982, by principal Brother Giles.

John describes Giles as a very loud, big man who used fear and intimidation to get what he wanted.

He said it started with grooming.

When he was grooming me it was about two or three times a week, but once the sexual abuse started it would be sometimes a couple of times a day. Other times it would be two or three days break. I never knew whether it was going to be today, tomorrow or the next day.

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Evidence has revealed that the Marist Brothers knew one of their members was offending against children over decades, but didn’t prevent him from being around children.

One of his victims, who asked to be referred to only as James, described his abuser, Brother Giles, as a “monster”.

James says he was raped and abused by Brother Giles every week over a two year period when he was a 12 year old at Xavier Intermediate in Christchurch between 1980 and 1982.

Brother Giles was the principal at the school and James told Newshub he’d be singled out at lunchtime and taken to Brother Giles’ office, where most of the abuse occurred.

How I picture him is just a monster. The way he treated me, I was not only sexually abused, I was mentally abused and I was also caned by him as well.

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Witnesses at the Abuse in Care Royal Commission have recounted gruelling memories of being abused while in the care of churches.

During the week and next week, the Commission is hearing from 25 survivors.

The witnesses have agreed to go public with their stories of abuse and how they sought redress from churches.

The focus during the week has been on the Catholic Church. Next week it is the turn of the Anglican Church and the Salvation Army.

Anne Hill, 58, was sexually abused by a priest between the ages of four and 12.

She said her abuse revolved around a pattern common to many survivors.

A vulnerable family in need of ministry would, if you like, become a target and while ministering he was also abusing children in the family.

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