BishopAccountability.org
 
 

Brisbane Archbishop Says Abusers May Have Traded Boys Interstate

Brisbane Times
February 5, 2016

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/brisbane-archbishop-says-abusers-may-have-traded-boys-interstate-20160205-gmmiiq.html

Brisbane Anglican Archbishop Phillip Aspinall: "Certainly there were abusers who knew each other." Photo: Robert Shakespeare

One of Australia's most senior Anglican leaders says evidence suggests boys were traded interstate by pedophiles linked to the church.

But Brisbane archbishop Phillip Aspinall said whether there was a "ring" of sex abusers operating during the 1970s, `80s and `90s is a matter for the royal commission to decide.

I think offenders used CEBS to gain access to boys and to abuse them.

The leader of the Brisbane diocese, who boasts a near-life-long association with the church which started as an eight-year-old member of the Church of England Boys' Society (CEBS), on Thursday gave evidence at a public hearing in Hobart.

"Certainly there were abusers who knew each other," Archbishop Aspinall said.

"There seems to have been evidence that some abusers sent boys from one state to another state where they were abused."

Asked if that constituted a "pedophile ring", the archbishop said it was not his place to judge.

"I think offenders used CEBS to gain access to boys and to abuse them.

"Whether it facilitated networks between offenders ... that's a question for the commission."

During his links to CEBS which stretched over decades, the archbishop can recall only one mention of inappropriate behaviour and that involved then-priest Louis Daniels in Tasmania.

A 17-year-old friend of Mr Aspinall, then 22, said Daniels had ruffled his hair and made some kind of advance, news which puzzled the older youth.

"I certainly didn't take it as being a complaint and I certainly didn't take it as being disclosure of abuse," Archbishop Aspinall said.

Daniels, who reached the position of archdeacon in Tasmania, was later jailed for the sexual abuse of 11 boys.

Archbishop Aspinall said Daniels was a long-term "friend and mentor" and that he continued to struggle with news of the crimes.

"At a personal level I have wrestled with that sense of betrayal and I suppose at some level I still do."

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is investigating how the church handled reports against lay and clergymen Daniels, Simon Jacobs, John Elliot and Garth Hawkins (now known as Robin Goodfellow).

Each has been convicted of abusing boys.

A fifth man, Robert Brandenburg, died before facing court on more than 350 charges.

The commission has heard evidence that an Adelaide woman contacted her local priest in 1995 to report that her 10-year-old son had been naked in a spa with Brandenburg, who was also naked.

When confronted about the incident, the parish liaison officer employed by Anglicare made admissions and told superiors it was innocent.

Then-Anglicare South Australian boss Gerard Menses, who also gave evidence on Thursday, said that while he deemed the incident to be an example of inappropriate behaviour, he thought it was an aberration and gave Brandenburg the benefit of the doubt.

Mr Menses said that at the time he encouraged the diocese of Adelaide to take charge of the investigation, but there was uncertainty about what could be done to discipline a man about how he behaved in his personal time.

The hearing continues on Friday.

 

 

 

 

 




.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.