Catholic Church Theologian Moots Child Sexual Abuse Reporting after UK Paedophile Case

By Boo Su-Lyn
Maylay Mail Online
June 2, 2016

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/catholic-church-leader-moots-child-sexual-abuse-reporting-after-uk-paedophi

Devadass said people should be screened before they are allowed to work with children, especially if it is their first time. — Picture by Choo Choy May

A Malaysian Catholic Church theologian suggested today that reporting mechanisms be set up in the church for child sexual abuse cases, amid the trial of a British paedophile who raped children in poor Christian communities here.

Catholic Research Centre director Father Clarence Devadass also said people should be screened before they are allowed to work with children, especially if it is their first time.

“The Catholic Church views sexual abuse of children as a crime,” Devadass told Malay Mail Online.

He said the current procedure to report child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is to lodge a complaint with the Archbishop, adding that guidelines for people who work with children should be drawn up and education programmes be held for children about abuse.

UK media reported yesterday that Richard Huckle, 30, is facing several life sentences for the sexual abuse of babies and children aged between six months and 12 years from 2006 to 2014.

Huckle, who is believed to have abused up to 200 children, reportedly admitted 71 of 91 charges related to 23 girls and boys that included rape and sexual assault. Twenty-two children are reportedly from mainly impoverished Christian communities in Kuala Lumpur, where he posed as an English teacher and Christian philanthropist, while one is Cambodian.

UK broadcaster Sky News reported that Huckle, whose computer allegedly had over 20,000 indecent images of children, had helped teach at schools and churches in Malaysia and was sometimes employed for private tuition in his victims’ homes.

It is unknown which churches Huckle, who lived permanently in Malaysia from 2011 until December 2014 when he was arrested at Gatwick Airport in the UK, reportedly worked with.

National Evangelical Christian Fellowship of Malaysia (NECF) chairman Rev Dr Eu Hong Seng said all religious communities need to be more guarded when engaging interns and volunteer workers.

“We must not take ‘character reference checks’ lightly. And perhaps it’s time we consider having a register of such offenders, where all involved in education and childcare can cross check, as is the practice in some countries,” Eu told Malay Mail Online.

When asked if reporting mechanisms should be set up in the church to complain about child sexual abuse, he said such mechanisms are not easy to form and implement.

“Usually we end up with a ‘he says, they say’ situation. And the ‘wrongly accused’ can end up being ‘abused’ by the system, if flawed. Presently, most report to the police,” said the head of the umbrella body for evangelical churches.

Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) general secretary Rev Dr Hermen Shastri said CCM has always advised its churches to have their caregivers at charity homes and organisations scrutinise the past employment records of their staff, as well as to sign a declaration that they will maintain the highest ethical standards when dealing with children and youths.

“Church leaders in CCM had nothing to do with Richard Huckle. We will need to find out which churches he claims to have worked with,” the representative from the umbrella body of Protestant churches told Malay Mail Online.

Clarence and Eu similarly denied knowledge of which churches Huckle reportedly worked with.