AUSTRALIA
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The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse has been rather selective in which organisations it has chosen to investigate with regards to their association with paedophile, Steven Larkins, the subject of its first public hearings. It is considering only Scouts Australia, Hunter Aboriginal Children’s Service, NSW police and the NSW government Department of Community Services.
Yesterday, former Scouts official, Armand Hoitink, gave evidence indicating his concerns about Larkins. Oddly, he was not asked about a previous media article in which he is quoted as saying that he had discovered Larkins was working at Kendall Grange, a school for troubled boys run by the St John of God brothers, as a live-in house master. He said he had warned police, who told him they were ”keeping an eye” on Larkins.
The Catholic St. John of God order has been the subject of many cases of child sexual abuse at its institutions, both in Australia and in New Zealand (see previous posting). The Kendall Grange facility, located in the Hunter Region of NSW, has been the subject of several cases. Recently, former principal, Brother Bernard McGrath was extradited to Australia for offences at the school (see previous posting). Larkins was working at the school at the time he was forced to resign from the Scouts.
It was revealed last year that more than a dozen former students have alleged they were sexually abused by St John of God brothers at Kendall Grange School. Two of the brothers who worked at the school were convicted of serious abuse relating to work at homes run by the order in New Zealand in the 1960s. This is the springboard from which Larkins obtained his position with the Hunter Aboriginal Children’s Services organisation.
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