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July 5, 2013, 9:32 am
By Dan Cox, ABC Updated
A NSW inquiry has heard a paedophile priest was allowed to continue running private reading classes at Hunter Valley Catholic schools despite being accused of child sexual abuse.
The special commission of inquiry at Newcastle Supreme Court is investigating whistleblower police officer Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox’s claims the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese covered up abuse by two priests, James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.
Inspector Fox has told the commission that in 2003, the bishop of Maitland-Newcastle at the time, Michael Malone, “defied his suggestion” to have Fletcher stood down as a priest while the abuse investigation was underway.
Inspector Fox said he strongly suggested the priest have minimal contact with children by moving him to a diocesan office job.
The commission heard that six weeks after the request the former bishop doubled the size of Fletcher’s Lochinvar parish.
Inspector Fox said that gave the paedophile priest access to two more schools, and potentially hundreds of children.
Mr Malone’s barrister told Inspector Fox “there’s more than one answer” when you ask someone to give consideration.
Inspector Fox said he had no power to demand the priest’s removal, and he was hoping the bishop would have put the community before a “resource shortage”.
He said he was not concerned Fletcher was still running the parish, but was “concerned he was running private reading classes” with school students.
More than a dozen documents tendered to the inquiry show senior Catholic Church officials knew about abuse by both priests for decades but did not tell police.
Earlier today, the inquiry heard Inspector Fox had “no basis” for suggesting Mr Malone tried to hinder his investigation into Fletcher by telling the priest about the allegations.
But Mr Malone’s barrister Simon Harben SC told the commission the former bishop was legitimately concerned about Fletcher’s stress and poor health, and how he would handle finding out about the allegations.
Inspector Fox said it gave Fletcher time to destroy evidence.
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Inquiry hears paedophile priest given access to children
ABC Australia
Updated Fri Jul 5, 2013 2:27pm AEST
By Dan Cox
An inquiry has heard a paedophile priest was allowed to continue running private reading classes at Catholic schools in the New South Wales Hunter Valley despite being accused of child sexual abuse.
The inquiry is investigating senior policeman Peter Fox’s claims the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese covered-up abuse by two priests, James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.
Documents tendered this week show senior church officials knew about the abuse by both men but did not tell police.
Detective Chief Inspector Fox said all of the documents would have helped with his investigations.
He told the commission that the former Bishop Michael Malone “defied his suggestion” to have Fletcher stood down as a priest while the abuse investigation was underway.
He said he “strongly suggested” the priest have “minimal contact with children” by moving him to an office job in the Diocese.
The commission heard six weeks later Bishop Malone doubled the size of Fletcher’s Lochinvar parish.
Peter Fox said that gave the paedophile priest “access to two more schools”, and potentially hundreds of children.
He said he was not concerned Fletcher was still running the parish, but “was concerned he was running private reading classes” with school students.
Peter Fox told the public hearings he hoped Bishop Malone would have put the “safety of children above a resource shortage”.
But Bishop Malone’s barrister Simon Harben SC told Peter Fox there is “more than one answer when you ask someone to give consideration”.
The senior policeman replied he had “no power to demand” the priest’s removal and he was hoping the bishop would have put the community first.
The inquiry has previously heard Peter Fox says the former Bishop Michael Malone intentionally hindered his investigation into Fletcher by telling Fletcher about the allegations against him.
But Mr Harben today told Peter Fox he had “no basis” for that view.
Mr Harben told the commission the former Bishop was legitimately concerned about Fletcher’s “stress and poor health” and how he would handle finding out about the allegations.
But Peter Fox said it gave Fletcher time to “destroy evidence” and it “robbed” investigators of the element of surprise.
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Former Catholic priest charged with child sex offences in Sydney’s west
July 3, 2013, 9:56 am
ABC Updated
New South Wales police have charged a former Catholic priest with indecent assault offences against children dating back to the 1970s.
Police arrested the 70-year-old man at his home at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains at about 3:00pm (AEST) yesterday.
He was targeted as part of Strike Force Nemesis, a team investigating child sex offences allegedly committed in the state’s south coast and Sydney’s western suburbs.
The former priest has been charged with five counts of indecent assault on a male.
Inspector Maureen Deegan says the victims were all children.
“I’ve got victims aged between eleven and 15 years at the time of the offences,” she said.
The man has been granted conditional bail and is due to face court later in the month.
Inspector Deegan says the victims may come forward because of the Commonwealth Royal Commission into child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
“I can only assume that the media coverage of the investigations into Catholic priests and sexual assaults has brought on these victims to decide to report these matters to police,” she said.
“Police, through their investigations have identified a number of victims.”
Anyone who has information about child sex offences is urged to contact Crime stoppers on 1800 333 000.