BishopAccountability.org

Child sex abuse royal commission: church aware of claims in 1978

By Tessa Akerman
Australian
January 27, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/zvaa2ew

The Anglican Diocese of Adelaide was first made aware of allegations that an employee of the Church of England Boys’ Society was sexually abusing children in about 1978, but he stayed on in various roles relating to the church until 1998, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday began hearings into the Church of Eng­land Boys’ Society, the fifth public hearing relating to the Anglican Church.

In her opening address, counsel assisting the inquiry Naomi Sharp said the hearing in Hobart would look at the responses of the CEBS and the Anglican dioceses of Tasmania, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney to allegations of child sexual abuse by those involved in or associated with CEBS.

The hearing would focus on five men convicted of or charged with sex offences against boys, ­including Robert Brandenburg, who served as South Australian CEBS chief commissioner in the 1970s and manager of campsites for the diocese of Adelaide in the 1980s. His employment was transferred to Anglicare SA in 1989 and he retired in 1998.

In 1999, Brandenburg was charged with 24 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and 341 counts of indecent assault. He committed suicide two days before he was due to face court.




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