AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail
BY ANGUS LIVINGSTON AAP AUGUST 19, 2014
AFTER 18 years investigating pedophiles in the Catholic Church, Peter O’Callaghan QC is sure of one thing: people don’t make up stories about sexual abuse.
HE was appointed in 1996 to investigate sexual abuse in the Melbourne archdiocese and thought the claims would flood in over the first six months.
They never stopped coming.
Almost two decades later he is still getting calls from victims, including one during a break in a royal commission hearing on Monday.
As the independent commissioner of the church’s Melbourne Response to clergy sex abuse, Mr O’Callaghan has identified 81 offenders and upheld 326 claims of abuse since October 1996, with just nine claims unsubstantiated.
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