Salvation Army Helped Conceal Child Abuser Colin Haggar, Territorial Commander Admits

NEWS.com.au
April 7, 2014

http://www.news.com.au/national/salvation-army-helped-conceal-child-abuser-colin-haggar-territorial-commander-admits/story-fncynjr2-1226877200142

The Salvation Army Commissioner James Condon / Screen grab Source: News Corp Australia

THE top ranks of the Salvation Army gave a self-confessed child abuser a “guiding hand” to keep his behaviour secret, its territorial commander James Condon admitted yesterday.

Colin Haggar had sexually assaulted an eight-year-old girl but although he was dismissed from the Salvos, he was allowed to give his own reasons to both his colleagues and his congregation in the western NSW town where he had been based, the child sex abuse royal commission heard yesterday.

In a letter to the “family and friends” in the town, Haggar and his wife, also a Salvation Army officer, wrote: “We are taking a break from duties of office so we can spend time on our own spiritual growth and thus hopefully be of more use to Him when we resume our service. All we can say is to keep your eyes on Jesus. We may not understand the whys and wherefores of His actions and timing ...”

Haggar had told the girl’s parents: “It wasn’t that serious. I only fingered her”.

This is the second hearing by the commission into the Salvation Army and how it handled claims of sex abuse. The organisation dismissed Haggar in 1990 but moved him to a lay job and provided the couple with accommodation. In 1993, he was reinstated and became a lieutenant colonel.

“There appears to have been a guiding hand from the top of the Salvation Army,” Mr Condon, head of the eastern territory which covers NSW and Queensland, said.