Police Face Flood of Sex Claims from Royal Commission

By Dan Box
The Australian
March 13, 2015

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THE first wave of criminal prosecutions brought as a result of the child-abuse royal commission have begun to hit the courts, with police pursuing more than 140 separate criminal investigations into information provided by the commissioners.

An 88-year-old man appeared in Coffs Harbour Local Court this week charged with sexually abusing his foster daughter during the 1960s, when she was about 12 years old.

His alleged victim said she ­approached the police only after the establishment of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, to which she has given evidence in a private hearing.

“If it wasn’t for the … royal commission being formed, there would be no way I’d have the courage to come forward,” said the woman, who cannot be identified.