AUSTRALIA
The Australian
DAN BOX
From:The Australian
October 19, 2012
NSW POLICE have declined to rule out further arrests as they investigate an alleged cover-up by the Catholic church, following the arrest of a former priest over alleged child sex offences.
Senior detectives privately say a royal commission is now needed to investigate child sex abuse within the church, although that was dismissed yesterday by Premier Barry O’Farrell.
The priest, who is from Armidale in northern NSW and who cannot be named, was yesterday charged with 25 child sex offences against three girls aged as young as five, which allegedly took place over 13 years, dating back to 1975.
The 59-year-old moved between a number of parishes in northern NSW during the 1980s and ultimately to the Sydney diocese of Parramatta, before being removed from public ministry. The decision to remove him followed a 1992 meeting with three current senior clerics, at which it was alleged he had sexually abused children.
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