AUSTRALIA
9 News
A pedophile priest continued to teach reading at a Hunter Valley Catholic primary school for nine months despite church leaders knowing he was under police investigation, an inquiry has been told.
Will Callinan – the principal of Saint Brigids Primary, Branxton, and Saint Mary’s, at Greta – made the claim before a special NSW commission of inquiry on Tuesday.
He said police told Maitland/Newcastle diocese Bishop Michael Malone in June 2002 that Father James Fletcher was the subject of child sex abuse investigations, but the bishop did not tell him about the allegations until March 2003, just before charges were laid.
He said he had heard a rumour from someone he could not remember in early June 2002 that Fletcher was being investigated.
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