Survivor who ignited US Catholic church’s reckoning with abuse killed in Louisiana

Scott Anthony Gastal, who at age 11 had testified in court in the 1980s that his priest had raped him, was beaten to death

The clergy abuse survivor who effectively ignited the US Catholic church's reckoning with clerical molestation when - at age 11 - he testified in the 1980s that his priest had raped him was recently beaten to death in south-west Louisiana.

Scott Anthony Gastal, whose later life was marked by legal struggles after enduring child sexual abuse at the hands of notorious clergy predator Gilbert Gauthe, was 50.