AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
Joanne McCarthy
More than 80 Catholic and Anglican Church priests and other representatives – including women – are alleged to have committed child sex crimes against Hunter children over decades, newly released data analysis and evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has revealed.
The shocking figure includes claims and substantiated complaints against 51 alleged and convicted Hunter Catholic offenders from the 1940s to the 1990s, including 19 priests, 20 Marist Brothers, and 12 teachers, employees and volunteers, a report by the royal commission has found.
The data analysis has confirmed, for the first time, the extent of compensation paid to survivors of Catholic abuse in the Hunter after years of confidential settlements enforced by the church. It includes confirmation that nearly $10 million was paid to victims of just one child sex offender priest, John Denham. It also confirms that a single victim of notorious paedophile priest Vince Ryan received one of the highest known church abuse payouts in Australia, of $3 million, more than a decade ago.
The royal commission data analysis has also revealed that abuse survivors in the Hunter have received substantially greater compensation, on average, than survivors in two other Australian child sexual abuse hotspots in Ballarat and Melbourne.
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