AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail
THERE is no place for statutory time limits in a society that prioritises child safety. Existing Queensland legislation that requires victims of child abuse to begin legal action against institutions by the age of 21 or be ruled ineligible for compensation is offensive and must be changed.
To date, institutions — be they churches, schools or orphanages — have invoked the statute of limitations “defence” either in direct response to being sued or in preliminary negotiations with victims to dissuade them from taking action.
Institutions that have known that an employee, such as a priest, teacher or counsellor, has sexually assaulted children have protected the perpetrator by refusing to report them to police, by relocating them, or deliberately destroying evidence.
The Anglican Diocese of Brisbane (under archbishop Hollingworth and then archbishop Aspinall) and Brisbane Grammar School (under chairman Howard Stack) both used the time limits defence in relation to pedophile Kevin Lynch. Lynch abused boys at Brisbane Grammar School in the 1970s and ’80s, and at St Paul’s School in the 1990s. He committed suicide in 1997 after being charged by police with indecent dealing with a boy at St Paul’s.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.