AUSTRALIA
The Australian
BY CANDACE SUTTON From: news.com.au June 22, 2013
Teacher Michael Drew, now 57, was sacked from St Agnes’ Catholic Primary School in Matraville in 1982, but his crimes against girls dated back to as early as 1979. Source: Supplied
THE victims of a serial child molester, a Catholic school teacher, say the church and school authorities knew of the abuse – and did nothing to stop it.
A Sydney lawyer has called for charges to be laid against the Catholic Church and some of the former principals of a Catholic primary school after one of its teachers was this week sentenced for molesting girls as young as eight.
Documents obtained by news.com.au show the school’s principal at the time of the offences knew the details of the sexual assaults and actively decided to cover them up rather than go to police.
Jason Parkinson, the solicitor representing the victims, says charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice may be able to be laid against school authorities at the time of the offences and against church officials who knew of the cases.
Mr Parkinson’s call comes after the sentencing judge criticised the school and church authorities for allowing girls at the school to be sexually assaulted by the teacher who “took away their lives”.
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