A member of the Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council has spoken out over the "cone of silence" that shielded child sex offender Roy 'Dootch' Kennedy from scrutiny for decades.
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In the wake of Kennedy's 17-year prison sentence for sex crimes against a teenage girl, Veronica Bird is calling for the dismantling of the Sandon Point Aboriginal tent embassy synonymous with Kennedy's land rights activism.
Mrs Bird claims she has been bullied and intimidated by an element that remains loyal to Kennedy. She says she received an illustrated death threat last year, now in the hands of police, after she called for his resignation as chair of the land council.
Kennedy was supported by about 12 people as he was sentenced at Wollongong Courthouse on Monday.
Mrs Bird attended as part of a group supporting Kennedy’s victim, who bore two children when she was a teen as a result of her abuse.
Mrs Bird says some of Kennedy’s supporters took photos and video footage of her group at court and told her: “shame” and “we are traditional owners, you don’t come from here” when their paths crossed.
“It’s very disturbing, the amount of men that are standing by this confessed child rapist,” she said.
“I don’t come from this area, but to me it’s incomprehensible that people use their traditional owner status in that manner.
“I don't now if they believe that [Kennedy’s offending] is his cultural right. I have no idea. Maybe they don’t condone what he does, but the fact that they have bullied and intimidated those who have tried to support the young woman indicates to me that it’s more than that.”
The Mercury has learnt Kennedy’s offending was an open secret among large sections of the Illawarra’s Aboriginal community for many years before he was charged.
Mrs Bird physically shakes when she recounts the moment, about seven years ago, she learnt this.
She had invited Kennedy, a Reconciliation NSW ambassador, to deliver the Welcome to Country at a Shellharbour City Council event when she saw an attending elder get up and walk away, she said. “I said, Aunty, is there something that I have done that has offended you?’,” Mrs Bird said.
“That’s when she told me about what she knew in relation to Dootch Kennedy – that it was common knowledge in the community that he had perpetrated these acts against a young girl from a very young age.”
“I didn’t know. I’m shaking now.”
Mrs Bird said she sought out other elders to verify the claims and find out why nothing had been done about them.
“I couldn’t get a reasonable response as to why there was this cone of silence over this community in relation to this matter,” she said.
“And this was the case for a long, long time.
“It is akin to the silence that is currently being exposed in the Catholic Church.”
Kennedy took up residence in a waterfront tent at Sandon Point soon after the remains of a 6000-year-old ‘clever man’ or ‘kuradji’ were discovered at the site in 1998. He rose to prominence as the embassy’s outspoken leader.
He stood down as chair of the land council in March but continued to protest his innocence until December, when he pleaded guilty to interfering with the girl on four occasions.
Mrs Bird said the tent embassy should be replaced in light of its association with Kennedy.
"It is a place of significance to the local Aboriginal community, and something respectful should replace it,” she said.
“It is important that it is not seen as the legacy that Kennedy has left behind, in regard to the horrendous offences he has inflicted on a young Aboriginal woman.
“Paedophile Point' - that's what people call it now.”
Mrs Bird welcomed the length of the prison term handed down by Judge Paul Conlon.
She lamented the earlier court appearances where Kennedy’s victim had few supporters compared to him.
“[On Monday] I was able to embrace her, and tell her we admire her strength and her courage,” she said.
“I hope that the sentence yesterday brings some sort of closure for the young survivor. It brings tears to my eyes.
“I just hope her journey of healing continues peacefully.”