Probe into Priest's Sex Abuse at School

By Dan Box
The Australian
October 18, 2012

www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/probe-into-priests-sex-abuse-at-school/story-e6frg6nf-1226498122175

QUEENSLAND police are investigating whether a Catholic priest sexually abused schoolchildren during the 1970s and 80s, despite at least one family warning the then archbishop of Brisbane about his alleged assaults.

One alleged victim of Father Dermot Casey said she was serially abused by the priest over several months as a nine or 10-year-old pupil at St Joseph's Tobruk Memorial School during the mid-70s.

The girl's family reported their concerns to church authorities at the time, during a meeting at which they say the late archbishop of Brisbane, Francis Rush, was present, although the church was unable to confirm this.

Father Casey was subsequently moved to another parish, Salisbury, where police are investigating whether he abused other children at a second school.