Laurie Maher

Laurence ‘Laurie’ Joseph Maher is the former independent Mayor of Gosford and also the former superintendent at Mt Penang Training School on the Central Coast of NSW.

In 2016, NSW Police established Strikeforce Eckersly to operate within the Nepean Police Area Command in order to investigate allegations of institutional child sexual abuse made to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. One particular institution that Strikeforce Eckersly investigated was Mt Penang Training School situated at Somersby on the Central Coast of NSW. Mt Penang was established in the 1940s as a government reformatory facility for teenage offenders. Over the years, Mt Penang established a reputation for being a house of horrors, as the institution had the opposite effect on the boys sent there, in that instead of reforming them and giving them guidance and protection, it turned many of them into some of the most hardened criminals in NSW.

It is reported that in 2020, Laurie Maher became the ninth man to be charged by Strikeforce Eckersly in relation to historical child sexual offences at Mt Penang. Reports indicate that Laurie Maher was charged with four counts of buggery, three counts of indecent assault and six counts of sexual assault knowing no consent was given. The alleged offences are said to have taken place between 1977 and 1988.

Laurie Maher is to stand trial in the NSW District Court on 22 August 2022.

Moody Law has in the past represented and is still representing clients who were sexually and physically abused at Mt Penang.

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

Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form below.