AUSTRALIA
Sky News
A former Catholic school principal has no explanation for failing to report serious child sex abuse allegations to police, an inquiry has heard.
Terence Hayes did not report complaints against pedophile teacher Gerard Byrnes, who molested and raped 13 girls in 2007 and 2008.
But that was despite knowing about new Queensland laws which made it compulsory to report child sex abuse allegations to police or child protection agencies.
Giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday, Mr Hayes was asked if he had any explanation for failing to take the matter to police.
‘No,’ he replied under cross-examination from the Catholic diocese counsel Jane Needham SC.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.