Nsw Church Child Abuse Inquiry Approaches Heart of the Matter
By Stephen Crittenden
The Maitland-Newcastle diocese has been described as the probable epicentre of Catholic clerical abuse in Australia. There are 400 known victims. Seven priests have been convicted, the church has paid compensation to the victims of eight others, and four are currently facing abuse or concealment charges. Four religious brothers and six lay teachers have also been convicted, and two brothers are facing charges. But on Monday, after three frustrating weeks of public hearings in Newcastle, a New South Wales special inquiry into child sex abuse within the Catholic church is finally expected to begin to get to the heart of the matter. The NSW premier, Barry O'Farrell, convened the inquiry in November last year, after Chief Inspector Peter Fox, a detective with years of experience investigating clerical sex abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, turned whistleblower in an interview on the ABC's Lateline program, claiming he had evidence that the Catholic church covers up abuse and hinders police investigations. The special inquiry, chaired by Commissioner Margaret Cunneen SC, centres on a sheaf of internal church documents, obtained by Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy in 2009, that reveal a group of senior clergy allegedly attempted to conceal the crimes of one of Australia's worst paedophile priests, Denis McAlinden. McCarthy brought the documents to the attention of Fox and another police officer, Strike Force Georgiana detective Shaun McLeod. An Irishman who arrived in Australia in 1949, McAlinden preyed on pre-pubescent girls. For decades he was moved from parish to parish in Australia and overseas, including to New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. Counsel assisting, Julia Lonergan SC, told the inquiry the church possessed documented evidence of McAlinden's abuse as far back as 1976 and undocumented evidence going back to the mid 1950s, but it was not until 1999 that any complaint was conveyed to NSW police. "That complaint was taken to the police by the victim, not by the church," she said. In 1992, McAlinden was charged but acquitted in Western Australia, at which point the bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Leo Clarke, who died in 2006, stripped him of his priestly faculties. The so-called "McAlinden documents" show the vicar general of Maitland-Newcastle, Philip Wilson – now archbishop of Adelaide – took a written statement from one of McAlinden's victims in 1995 and Clarke immediately initiated a secret process to laicise – or "defrock" – McAlinden, promising in writing that his "good name" would be protected. But McAlinden refused to co-operate and the defrocking process was never completed. He died in Western Australia in 2005 without ever being convicted. Fox investigated McAlinden between 1999 and 2005. Between 2002 and 2004 he also investigated and charged the other paedophile priest at the centre of the Cunneen inquiry, Father James Fletcher, who died in jail in 2006. Convinced there was a bigger picture to the crimes he was investigating, in 2005 and 2006 he submitted two internal intelligence reports to his superiors outlining his suspicions that a Catholic clerical paedophile ring was operating in the Hunter Valley and urging a full-scale investigation. Why senior police failed to act on those concerns, despite more and more individual cases coming to light, is a major question. But Cunneen has ruled that it falls outside the rather narrow terms of reference she has been given, which limit her inquiry only to the police investigation and alleged church cover-up of Fletcher and McAlinden. In other words, Cunneen is required to take the same restricted view as Fox's police superiors. However, she has told the inquiry that a "large quantity" of material supplied by Fox has already been referred to the national royal commission. Fox is scheduled to reappear this week, as Cunneen turns her attention to the second of her terms of reference, relating to the Catholic church. He has already spent more than three days in the witness box giving evidence in relation to the first term of reference, about the circumstances in which he was ordered to cease investigating and hand over his material. This has involved an excruciatingly detailed examination of bureaucratic infighting within the NSW police force, during which the subject of the inquiry has often seemed to be Fox himself. It emerged that the McAlinden documents were passed backwards and forwards between the Lake Macquarie and Newcastle local area commands and the sex crimes squad in Sydney. After sustained media scrutiny, police established Strike Force Lantle in October 2010, but although Fox was keen to take part, he was left out of the new investigation. Senior police have testified that this was because Lantle was run out of the Newcastle local area command, while Fox was working in Port Stephens. The inquiry also heard that almost immediately after Strike Force Lantle began, the three detectives assigned to it went off on extended sick leave and Sergeant Jeffrey Little was put in charge of the investigation. In around May 2011, warrants were issued to secure documents from within the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, and Lantle's own terms of reference were narrowed to cover the years 1985 to 1999. In mid-2012, he produced a brief of evidence for the NSW director of public prosecutions. Police produced a QC's advice saying it was an excellent piece of work. In his evidence, Little said he had been mortified by Fox's assertion that Strikeforce Lantle was a "sham" and had been "set up to fail". He accused Fox of having "ridden on a saddle of lies". The inquiry was also told that Fox was suspected of leaking to McCarthy. But that allegation has not been substantiated. During cross-examination by police barrister Wayne Roser SC, McCarthy asked whether there was any evidence for such leaks. "I'd like to know what information that is because no one has pinned that down yet." Rather, it has emerged that it was McCarthy who brought documents and witnesses to Fox, because she – and they – trusted his commitment to victims. She first introduced him to a victim of McAlinden's referred to as AJ, in June 2010. Over several days, AJ provided a detailed statement he says is "explosive". But Fox told the inquiry he kept AJ's statement to himself because he did not trust his superiors, only handing it over after he was directed to do so at a meeting in December 2010. He admitted disobeying an instruction to immediately cease any further contact with McCarthy. Fox told the inquiry he was tipped off that two of his superiors, Superintendent Charles Haggett and Chief Inspector Wayne Humphrey, had searched his office looking for documents while he was away on leave in September 2010. Giving evidence last Thursday, Inspector Fay Dunn contradicted Humphrey's testimony that she had authorised the search. Last week, Humphrey withdrew part of his sworn affidavit in which he had accused Fox of refusing repeated requests to hand over material. He said the statements were "unfair to Mr Fox", and apologised for making "an error on my part". More remarkable testimony came from McCarthy, who revealed that retired bishop Michael Malone was the original source behind release of the so-called "McAlinden documents". She told the inquiry Malone had authorised their release to one of McAlinden's victims, known as AL, in 2009. Bishop Malone is due to give evidence on Friday. Other witnesses scheduled to appear in the next fortnight include the present bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, William Wright, the general secretary of the Australian Bishops' Conference, Father Brian Lucas, and a former employee of the diocese turned whistleblower, Helen Keevers. Wilson has also been subpoenaed to appear but will give his testimony in camera. Cunneen is expected to release her findings in September.
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