AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times
June 16, 2014
David Ellery
Reporter for The Canberra Times.
A former Marist Brothers principal was “not sure” as late as 1989 that committing a sex act against a child was a crime, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard on Monday.
John Holdsworth, who left the order in 1999, went to a meeting between Gregory Sutton and the father of one his victims who had committed suicide.
The youth, identified as ADO, had told his elder brother that Sutton had molested him shortly before taking his own life.
On learning this, the youth’s father sought a meeting with Sutton, who was then in Sydney, and asked Mr Holdsworth to attend to curb any violent impulses he might have.
Sutton, who had been close to the youth’s family, had assisted them with the funeral arrangements.
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