Peter Hollingworth Apologises to Abuse Victim
By Patrick Billings
FORMER Governor-General Peter Hollingworth has apologised personally to a victim of child abuse whose allegations he seriously mishandled when he was Anglican Archdeacon of Brisbane. The victim, known by the pseudonym BYB, was sexually abused by John Litton Elliot over a period of four years from the late 1970s. At the time Elliot was a Church of Engliand Boys’ Society leader and a lay preacher in Queensland. In 1993, BYB reported the abuse to Archdeacon Hollingworth as Elliot was by then a priest in Queensland. Despite admitting to the abuse, Elliot was never made to step down and remained a priest until he retired in 1998. This morning in Hobart at a royal commission into child abuse, Dr Hollingworth apologised to BYB and his family.
“I want to take this opportunity publicly and in person to apologise to BYB and your family I am deeply sorry that I was not sufficiently sensitive to your needs, ignoring your plea for Elliot to be removed from ministry,” he said “After a great deal of consideration over the past 22 years, I acknowledge unconditionally that my actions were misguided, wrong and a serious error of judgment and that I genuinely regret that.” Earlier today, BYB spoke to the commission about the impact the abuse and its handling had on his life. Dr Hollingworth resigned as Governor-General in 2003. The Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse is examining paedophilia in the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania and other states along with its youth movement, the Church of England Boys’ Society.
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