AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Dan Cox, staff
The Fairfax journalist at the centre of a child sexual abuse strike force in the Hunter Valley has told the New South Wales Special Commission a policeman asked her to write an article in a bid to bring more victims forward.
Newcastle Herald reporter Joanne McCarthy has received a national award for her work regarding child sexual abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese.
The special commission of inquiry into clergy child sexual abuse in the Hunter Valley is investigating Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox’s claims he was told to stop investigating two priests, James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.
The court has heard Ms McCarthy was considered “the genesis” of strike force Lantle, which was set-up to investigate allegations of a cover-up by the church.
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