AUSTRALIA
Daily News
Jessica Grewal 26th Nov 2013
THE royal commission into child sex abuse is expected to hear a known paedophile was allowed to work as a priest for almost 40 years – many years of which were spent in Tweed.
It’s understood while the man was convicted of indecent assault against a male in the late 1960s he remained in a position of trust with children across the NSW North Coast before his past caught up with him.
Documents tendered during the first hearings into abuse at Lismore’s North Coast Children’s Home reveal Allan Kitchingman was before the courts in Newcastle when the bishop of the day recommended he be transferred to the Grafton diocese.
In a letter before the commission, the Newcastle bishop explains that Kitchingman is a “most acceptable” priest who is currently “living under a shadow” and needs to leave the diocese.
A handwritten footnote marked “highly confidential” describes Kitchingman as being popular with young people but having “some homosexual difficulties.”
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