AUSTRALIA
The New Daily
ANDREW DRUMMOND
The culture of an Anglican boys’ society based on camping and touring provided an opportunity for sexual predators, an offender says.
A convicted child sex offender has described an Anglican boys’ society as a “sitting duck” for predators.
Former Tasmanian archdeacon Louis Daniels, 68, on Thursday gave evidence to a royal commission investigating the Church of England Boys’ Society across the island state and also in Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide.
Daniels, who has been jailed for his abuse of 11 boys and has settled a civil claim with another, was asked about the culture within the church and whether its branches helped facilitate his offending.
“A boys’ society, unless it is very closely managed, is a sitting duck,” he replied.
Allegations against Daniels were first raised in 1981 by the mother of a 14-year-old Hobart boy who had been sexually propositioned.
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