AUSTRALIA
Moree Champion
Rachel Browne
15 Sep 2016
The former Catholic Bishop of Parramatta, Bede Heather, told a royal commission he destroyed documents relating to potential legal action against a paedophile priest.
Bishop Heather told the public inquiry he destroyed documents because he was traumatised by a police search of his office as part of an earlier investigation into sexual abuse by clergy.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard Bishop Heather advised his lawyers Makinson & D’Apice of his actions in a 1996 letter.
“Following the police raid on our offices, shortly afterwards I took the precaution of destroying all papers of mine which could have been to the disadvantage of persons with whom I deal,” he wrote in the letter which was partly read out before the commission.
In evidence, Bishop Heather admitted he destroyed material which might contain information about crimes committed by clergy.
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