Paedophile Ring Investigation Shutdown "Sparked Police Anger', Inquiry Told

By Candice Marcus
7 News
March 20, 2014

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/22072066/paedophile-ring-investigation-shutdown-sparked-police-anger-inquiry-told/

Police officers investigating a paedophile ring in South Australia were angered at the decision to prematurely shut down the inquiry, a royal commission has heard.

The inquiry into sexual abuse of children who went to St Ann's Special School in Adelaide has heard the police investigation was closed in 1993.

Detective Senior Sergeant Walter Conte said no reason was given for closing the inquiry, but he had assumed it was due to a lack of resources.

"I know there was a lot of anger in the room about the decision because there was still a lot of exhibits that needed to be rationalised," he said.

"Certainly there was room for a continued task force at that time. I think hence people were justifiably angry at the management decision to stop at that stage.

"What was unusual was that there was no real reasoning given. I assumed the reasons for the decision were to do with resources and to put in place some steps to assess what we had at a further point perhaps."

Detective Senior Sergeant Conte faced questioning from counsel assisting the royal commission, Sophie David, after he said senior police "made it pretty clear they didn't want to expand Operation Deny".

Q: "Just so we're clear, was there any explanation given to you about that?"

A: "No."

Q: "And you assumed through your own reasoning that it was a management decision that had to do to with resources?"

A: "Yes, and back then there was no central focal point for the coordination of these types of inquiries. It wasn't until I think 1998 that the child exploitation investigation section was actually formed to address these types of inquiries."

Detective Senior Sergeant Conte said he was angry management ended the investigations when the paedophiles targeted had been arrested, but before other lines of inquiry could be followed up.

The royal commission is examining sexual abuse of intellectually disabled students and how St Ann's, the Catholic Church and police responded.

It earlier heard parents of children who were molested by school bus driver Brian Perkins were kept in the dark about the abuse for years.

Detective Senior Sergeant Conte was asked about his involvement in meetings with the Catholic Education Office and a decision not to tell other parents at St Ann's school about the abuse.

He said he felt telling other parents was "a last resort" due to the sensitive nature of the investigation.

"It's a very dangerous practice. My personal experience in investigating matters of this nature where - it is very, very difficult - it is always a dilemma as to whether or not you approach other people who form part of a category or group to ascertain if there is any offending," he told the hearing.

"It is very, very sensitive and, as I said before, I think it is best left as a last resort."

The inquiry heard many parents only found out about the abuse in 2001 and that was when they began understanding earlier behavioural changes in their children.

Police investigations stalled for a decade before Perkins finally was extradited from Queensland, convicted and jailed. He died in prison in 2009.