AUSTRALIA
ABC News
The Special Commission of Inquiry into child sexual abuse in the Hunter region is now examining whether police destroyed crucial evidence relating to abuse by Catholic clergy. A Lateline investigation has found a senior NSW police officer was part of a key Catholic Church body set up to deal with sex abuse cases and attended monthly meetings. And over a five year period the police officer shredded all documents and records of those monthly meetings. There are now questions about how a serving police officer came to be sitting on an internal church committee, that discussed child sexual abuse and under what circumstances that officer shredded the records.
Transcript
ELIZABETH JACKSON: The official inquiry into child sexual abuse in the Hunter region of New South Wales is now examining whether police destroyed crucial evidence.
A Lateline investigation has found a senior serving police officer was part of a key Catholic Church expert panel set up to deal with sex abuse cases.
It’s been revealed that over a five year period that police officer attended monthly meetings and then shredded all documents and records of the meetings.
Emily Bourke reports.
EMILY BOURKE: For several years, a senior policewoman with the NSW Sex Crimes Squad sat on the internal Professional Standards Resource Group of the Catholic Church.
That group met for several hours each month to discuss specific cases of abuse by clergy and others.
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