Salvos promoted alleged abuser

By Dan Box
Australian
April 03, 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/salvos-promoted-alleged-abuser/story-fngburq5-1226872876812#

A SALVATION Army officer told the parents of an eight- or nine-year-old girl that he had sexually abused their daughter, before saying he was glad to have spoken to them and could now “go out and save more souls”.

Captain Colin Haggar was subsequently dismissed by the church in 1990, before being reinstated and promoted, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse has heard.

As recently as last July, Mr Haggar was working as the director of a Salvation Army centre offering accommodation for vulnerable women and children, despite the organisation receiving other abuse complaints against him.

Giving evidence yesterday to the commission, the young girl’s mother said Mr Haggar had asked to meet her and her husband at their home in regional NSW, before leading them in “a prayer about forgiveness and acceptance of God’s love”.