AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times
[with video]
Jorge Branco
Journalist
A barrister acting for former Governor-General Peter Hollingworth asked a child sex abuse victim to change his testimony to remove all references to her client, a royal commission has heard.
On Monday morning, a former St Paul’s School student, known only as BSG, told the child sex abuse royal commission Caroline Kirton QC approached his solicitor on the first day of hearings last week and asked him to make “significant” changes to his statement.
That would amount to having removed every reference to the name Hollingworth from my statement and she requested that I do that and submit that as my amended statement,” he said.
“I just think that’s terrible. That’s just outrageous, that someone of her calibre representing someone of his calibre, Hollingworth, would request me to change what I was saying or what I wanted to say to the commission in favour of them, that would remove his name entirely from my story.
“And I think that’s disgusting.”
Ms Kirton didn’t deny BSG’s claims when she briefly questioned him, nor did she comment when asked outside Brisbane Magistrates Court why the request was made.
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