AUSTRALIA
The Age
Paul Bibby
Court Reporter
A combination of bureaucratic bungling and document forging allowed a suspected paedophile Scout leader to continue working with children after leaving the Scouts movement in disgrace, the royal commission on child sexual abuse has heard.
The commission is investigating the case of former Stockton Scouts leader Steven Larkins, who indecently assaulted two young Scouts in the early 1990s but remained part of the organisation for much of the next decade. He was convicted over these and other offences in 2011.
In 2000, after leaving the Scouts, he took up a role with the Hunter Aboriginal Children’s Services (HACS), reaching a management position with court-ordered responsibility for up to 19 children, which he maintained until 2011.
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