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	Former Staff in Abuse Case - Principal Herald Sun August 26, 2008 http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24248978-5005961,00.html A POLICE investigation into claims of sexual abuse at a New South Wales atholic boys school involves a number of former staff, the school's principal says. St Stanislaus College principal John Edwards today said he was served with a search warrant last month which listed the names of three former staff members. "There were three former staff members who were listed on the search warrant that was served on me in early July, and we facilitated the gathering of material for police," Mr Edwards told Fairfax radio. "I'm not able to comment any further." A 65-year-old former priest at the private school in Bathurst, in central-western NSW, is facing 33 charges, following allegations of a pedophile ring comprising priests and teachers at the private school during the 1980s. Mr Edwards said he first became aware of the allegations "several years ago" when, he said, he referred the claims to police. "The college received some internet material which contained allegations that I think are linked to the ones that are currently taking place," he said. "Those matters were referred to the police some years ago." He said the material included claims of late-night prayer sessions, which included chanting, where boys were sexually abused. "Those circumstances where people have betrayed trust, it is a matter of grave concern and shame, and it needs to be addressed comprehensively in order to protect children in the future," Mr Edwards said today. "I can assure parents that this school is committed to the most thorough child protection measures, that we have been implementing for some considerable period of time. "We work closely with authorities in the area of child protection, we are committed to protecting children wherever we can." NSW Police Superintendent Michael Goodwin said at least 13 people had come forward with allegations of abuse. "We've had five people come forward that formed part of the initial investigation," Supt Goodwin told Fairfax radio. "And as a consequence to those five people coming forward we've identified another eight people, so at this stage we're speaking to 13 people." He would not rule out the possibility that more people might come forward and urged any victims to contact police. "What we can say at this stage is that there is a number of lines of inquiry that have come from the initial inquiries," Supt Goodwin said. "We're proceeding with those at the moment." Other arrests might follow, he said, but he confirmed that none of the people under investigation still worked at the school. "There are a number of inquiries continuing (and) there are some suspects involved," Supt Goodwin said. Police had established their investigation last year, and Supt Goodwin said the school and Catholic church authorities were co-operating.
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