AUSTRALIA
NT News
EDITOR ON DUTY: Carleen Frost
BETWEEN January 1980 and February 2015, 4444 people alleged incidents of child sexual abuse to 93 Catholic Church authorities, the Royal Commission into child sex abuse heard today.
Senior Counsel Assisting Gail Furness SC said: “These claims related to over 1000 seperate institutions. Where the gender of people making a claim was reported, 78 per cent were male and 22 per cent were female.”
The Commission has heard that of the 1,880 alleged perpetrators:
– 597 were religious brothers
– 572 were priests
– 543 were lay people
– 96 were religious sisters
Of all the alleged perpetrators 90 per cent were male.
Some of the most senior members of the Catholic Church in Australia are preparing to give evidence at the Royal Commission today.
Over the next month a total of 73 witnesses – including several archbishops, bishops, school principals, lawyers and parish priests – will address the factors that may have contributed to the occurance of child sex abuse and discuss the church’s response.
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