AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)
The priest who abused girls at confession – and how the Catholic church kept it secret: Furious families demand the truth about string of child sex abuse scandals
By EMILY CRANE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
A secret Catholic Church report found an Australian parish priest had been internally investigated and found guilty of child sex abuse, despite no criminal charges ever being laid against him.
A report into a confidential investigation into Father Peter Searson of the Doveton parish, south east of Melbourne, in 1997 found he was guilty of the offences, ABC’s Four Corners reports.
While Cardinal George Pell rejected a church cover-up of Father Searson’s crimes when he gave evidence at last year’s Victorian inquiry into child sex abuse, he did not make reference to the internal 1997 investigation or the finding that he had sexually abused children in his parish.
The revelation the church knew about Father Searson’s abuse was found in a report by the Independent Commissioner into Sexual Abuse, Peter O’Callaghan.
He was appointed in 1997 by Cardinal Pell, who was Archbishop of Melbourne at the time, to look at allegations from teachers and parents regarding Father Searson.
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