AUSTRALIA
ABC News
Child sex abuse royal commission: Salvation Army commissioner took year to report that officer allegedly sexually abused girl, report finds
A Salvation Army commissioner failed to report to authorities for more than a year an allegation that one of its officers had sexually abused an eight-year-old girl, the child sex abuse royal commission has found.
Captain Colin Haggar admitted to sexually abusing the girl in the state’s central-west in 1989.
After initially being dismissed, he was later given a position with managerial responsibility for children within the Salvation Army.
In a report handed down on Monday, the royal commission found commissioner James Condon was required to report the allegation to the state’s Ombudsman in September 2012, as soon as Captain Haggar was given the new role.
However, Mr Condon failed to report the matter to the Ombudsman until December 2013 because, the report said, “he had received equivocal legal advice as to whether he was required to report”.
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