AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM
Updated July 31, 2012
The New South Wales Police will turn over a brief of evidence to prosecutors on an alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Documents show that the Church was aware of allegations against paedophile priest Denis McAlinden as far back as the early 1990s, but didn’t report it until much later.
Timothy McDonald
Transcript
TIM PALMER: The New South Wales Police will turn over a brief of evidence to prosecutors on an alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Documents show that the Church was aware of allegations against paedophile priest Denis McAlinden as far back as the early 1990s.
The Church failed to report the matter to authorities until 2003, after victims notified the police and had been paid compensation.
McAlinden died two years later without facing charges, and in 2007 the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle was forced to confirm he was a serial offender who may have targeted hundreds of girls
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