AUSTRALIA
Australian
August 30, 2016
DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10
The Anglican Archbishop of Perth has thanked the child abuse royal commission for “holding me personally accountable” after giving evidence that he knew about a number of paedophile priests but did not report this to the police.
Archbishop Roger Herft told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse he had been given a “sacred trust” when appointed bishop of Newcastle in NSW during the 1990s and early 2000s.
“I have let them and down and let them down badly, and let down the (child abuse) survivors in ways that remorse itself is a very poor word to express,” the archbishop said this morning.
Giving evidence yesterday, Archbishop Herft accepted he had been repeatedly warned several Newcastle priests were allegedly abusing children, but had not reported this to police.
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