AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
September 16, 2013
Paul Bibby
Court Reporter
Senior figures within NSW Scouts were told about inappropriate behaviour by Hunter region Scout leader Steven Larkins years before he was arrested by police for abusing children but refused to kick him out on the grounds that it would “look bad for scouts” to kick out a member who was part Aboriginal.
The explosive allegations came from a former Scout group leader, who was giving evidence on the opening day of Sydney hearings of the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
It was all about protecting Scouts, not about protecting children.
Armand Hoitink told the commission that Larkins, who was jailed last year for aggravated indecent assault, possessing child pornography and forging documents, was involved in a number of disturbing incidents in the mid to late 1990s that were well known to many senior office holders.
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