Another Man Alleges Church Abuse Ignored

Perth Now
July 6, 2012

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/breaking-news/another-man-alleges-church-abuse-ignored/story-e6frg13c-1226419309773

Police are expected to be informed of fresh allegations of sexual abuse at a Catholic school that weren't passed on to authorities, a former victim says.

ROBERT Lipari told AAP he was sexually abused by a former teacher at a Catholic school in NSW during the 1970s.

An internal Catholic Church report dated August 2011, and obtained by AAP, substantiated Mr Lipari's allegations of indecent and sexual assaults between 1976 and 1977 when he was a student at the school.

The allegations included being assaulted in a caravan, on a boat during a fishing trip and in a classroom.

The accused teacher had been charged in 1963 with an assault on a minor, the report said.

"The assessor is of the opinion that (the teacher) committed the sexual/indecent assaults as stated by (Mr Lipari)," it said.

It also substantiated Mr Lipari's claim that a master at the school was informed of the alleged assaults.

"Whatever was done with that information can only be supposition at this stage," the report by retired NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Ken Maroney said.

The report said there was an incomplete investigation of Mr Lipari's claims that the then principal at the school was also informed of the abuse.

However, it said that on one occasion, the principal had informed Mr Maroney that four students from the school had complained to him about sexual misconduct by the teacher."

Mr Lipari told AAP another former victim of sexual abuse at the school would make a formal complaint to police next week.

"(The victim) and his mother are both putting in statements on Wednesday. (He) has said that he will go to the police on his return from holiday," Mr Lipari told AAP.