Sons Deny Brother Joked of Child Sexual Abuse | Royal Commission

By Adam Langenberg
The Advocate
February 4, 2016

http://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/3706449/sons-deny-brother-joked-of-child-sexual-abuse-royal-commission/

THE sons of former Tasmanian Anglican Bishop Philip Newell have told a royal commission they deny hearing their brother joke about child sexual abuse at the family dinner table.

John and Michael Newell told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that their brother Christopher Newell did not say that Church of England Boys Society members had sore bottoms when Priest Louis Daniels was at camps.

Christopher Newell's former partner Catherine Hutchinson told the inquiry he had made those comments at the dinner table in the mid 1980s, in front of Bishop Newell.

Daniels was later convicted of child sexual abuse against seven different boys.

Michael Newell said the nature of the words Ms Hutchinson alleged his brother had said was ''not something that one would forget, regardless of the tone''.

He said the sorts of comments alleged to have been said were not consistent with who his brother was.

''I was rather offended when I heard that those words had been put in the mouth of my dead brother who was not here to receive that evidence himself,'' he said.

Both John and Michael Newell presented almost identical statements to the inquiry.

They told the inquiry they had prepared the statements after their mother, Merle Newell alerted them to the evidence Ms Hutchinson gave to the inquiry.

Under questioning from Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission Naomi Sharp they denied giving evidence to protect their father.

The inquiry continues in Hobart until Friday.