BishopAccountability.org

Royal Commission Told Scouts 'Failed' Abused Children, Kept File on Paedophile Leader Steven Larkins

By Jamelle Wells and Rebecca Armitage
7 News
September 17, 2013

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/18969293/scouts-kept-file-on-paedophile-leader-steven-larkins-royal-commission-told/


[with video]

A former Scouts chief executive officer has told the royal commission into child abuse the organisation has failed children who were abused by scout leaders.

The second day of public hearings is focusing on how Scouts Australia and four other organisations responded to allegations against former scout leader Steven Larkins.

He is currently serving a jail sentence for offences that include possessing child pornography, after evading prosecution for a number of years.

Former Scouts Australia CEO Peter Olah told the commission that during his three years in the job, he dealt with 10 allegations of child sexual abuse.

He admitted a number of children were sexually abused or harmed and said the Scouts failed them.

"Any circumstance where a child is harmed is a failure," he told the hearing.

He said the Scouts kept a behavioural file on Larkin and encouraged a boy who made allegations against Larkins in 2003 to go to police.

He sais Larkins was suspended following the boy's allegations.

Mr Olah told the inquiry that after the incident, procedures were changed to try and give better protection to children but the changes were opposed by some members of the organisation.

"There was a lot of anger about what we introduced," he said.

He said before the changes, abuse allegations were not properly investigated.

Earlier this morning, former Scouts regional commissioner Allan Currie said he had no training in how to deal with the allegations against Steven Larkins.

He said Larkins was suspended but not sacked because the organisation feared he would accuse it of discrimination because he was part Aboriginal.

"We had nothing from any authority to say he’d done anything wrong," he said.

"The feeling was that if we reinstated him and if he caused any further issues that it would be bad, but if we dismissed him, he could then use the racial discrimination card.

"We didn’t know whether to go one way or the other. So the suggestion was we ask him to resign."

Mr Currie said he did not know if legal advice had been sought about Larkins.

The commission also heard the Scouts have made payouts to child sex abuse victims, but officials refused to be drawn on the amounts of money involved.

When asked what role the Scouts insurer played in any engagement with victims the current NSW CEO Graham Bargwanna replied: "We have a close working relationship with our insurers."

"We will talk to them about any aspect of our business that we do," he said.

"And yes, we’ll talk to our insurer about these particular cases, making contact with the victims. But we’ve received nothing but support in the actions that we’ve taken."

The commission has also heard from Police Sergeant Nigel Turney, who said he interviewed a victim who made allegations against Larkins.

Sergent Turney said he had no training in interviewing victims of sex abuse and considered the seriousness of the victims allegations to be at the "lower end of the scale."

Yesterday the commission heard testimony from two victims, who spoke of the profound effect the sexual abuse had on their lives.

The inquiry was also told Larkins was allowed to work with children, despite being caught showering with them and putting love notes under their doors.

Later this year, the commission will turn its attention to the case of Jonathan Lord, who worked with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in southern Sydney.

The third public hearing will look at the handling of complaints and legal action concerning the North Coast Children's Home by the Anglican Diocese of Grafton.

The final public hearing for this year will hear evidence about the Catholic Church's Towards Healing process.

The commission's interim report is expected to be handed down on June 30 next year.




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