AUSTRALIA
Australian
DAN BOX From: The Australian July 09, 2013
THE detective at the centre of a state government inquiry into church child abuse has been forced to defend his public claim that Catholic priests destroyed evidence during a police investigation.
In a 2012 interview with the ABC’s Lateline program, which led to the establishment of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox claimed priests had destroyed evidence “before we were able to secure it.”
Under cross-examination this morning, Mr Fox said this evidence was gay pornography found in a presbytery and reported to him in 2003, when he was investigating a pedophile priest, Father Jim Fletcher.
A different priest, Des Harrigan, subsequently admitted to destroying this material Mr Fox said, although he made no record of the conversation at the time.
Elizabeth McLaughlin, representing Father Harrigan, said her client disputed Mr Fox’s account of what took place, which he has since repeated under oath and in a formal report to the NSW Ombudsman’s office.
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