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	Catholic Church Investigating Five Cases of Alleged Abuse By Michael Dickison New Zealand Herald April 8, 2010 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10637043 New Zealand's Catholic church is investigating five historical cases of alleged sexual abuse, and victims' counsellors say the situation here is no better than scandal-plagued dioceses overseas. It has been eight years since New Zealand's Catholic church apologised to its parishioners about how it had historically handled sexual abuse cases, after admitting to 38 cases of sexual abuse by priests and other men in its ranks. The apology came as a pledge to better handle victims' complaints. An independent office was set up in Wellington about five years ago and headed by a non-Catholic former police commissioner, John Jamieson, to review cases and advise when a sexual abuse complaint is made. Mr Jamieson said he had reviewed 35 cases in five years, including where complainants were not happy with how they had been dealt with. He is currently investigating five cases. All incidents he had dealt with were more than 20 years old, and most from the 1950s and 1960s, Mr Jamieson said. Some of the subjects of the complaints were still alive and living in New Zealand, but some had since died, Mr Jamieson told Radio New Zealand today. "If there's any criminal activity that is alleged then we would recommend if the person is alive to go to the police station as well." However, some complainants did not want to have the police investigate their case, he said. "They have their own reasons for that, but they don't want to go through a court process, they don't want it to be publicised, they want the church to deal with it." In the past the church had paid money to some complainants to ensure the case did not proceed further, but that was no longer the case, Mr Jamieson said. Those people would today not be held to conditions agreed at the time. "People are free to talk to the media, they're free to talk to the police and free to go to lawyers and take any action they wish. They are free to ask me to do a review if they're not happy with it." The Auckland diocese is currently fielding two complaints. Its liaison for sexual abuse complaints, Monseignor David Tonks, said one was against a man no longer in active ministry and another was made by a woman who had lodged many complaints in many denominations and there was good grounds for doubting its veracity.
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