- Former Knox head admits he impeded child abuse investigation on purpose
- Former Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson’s admissions rock Royal Commission GLOWING REFERENCES FOR OFFENDERS
- Oxford child abuse report's key findings Up to 370 girls may have been the victims of child sexual exploitation
- Pastor held over ‘satanic sex abuse’
- Four alleged rapists, molesters granted bail
Former Knox head admits he impeded child abuse investigation on purpose
Ian Paterson told police investigating paedophile teachers at the school he was not aware of any complaints, which he admits was a lie, royal commission hears Bridie Jabour and agencies
Tuesday 3 March 2015
The former headmaster of Knox Grammar school has admitted deliberately impeding a police investigation into paedophile teachers working at the school.
Ian Paterson was approached by Inspector Elizabeth Cullen from the child protection enforcement agency about complaints of child sex abuse at the school in 1996. Paterson told Cullen he was not aware of any complaints, which he has admitted was a lie.
He made the admission in his second day of evidence at the royal commission into institutional responses to child abuse.
He also directed Cullen to files he knew would contain no information. It was not until 2009 that teachers from Knox were charged with child sex abuse offences which dated back to the 1980s.
In reply to counsel advising the royal commission, David Lloyd, Paterson agreed he knew this would impede the investigation.
Paterson told the inquiry on Tuesday he did not believe a student who complained a teacher touched him inappropriately in the 1980s because the student was a “drama boy”.
He also admitted to not contacting police after another student had his genitals groped by a man in a balaclava – suspected to be a teacher – while the boy was in his bed in one of the boarding houses.
Paterson said he did not report either incident to police because it did not occur to him and he was not aware groping was a crime.
He began his evidence with a statement apologising to the victims of child sex abuse at the school, which he was the headmaster of from 1969 to 1998. During that time there are multiple allegations of child sex abuse by multiple teachers with charges laid against some teachers in 2009.
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/mar/04/former-knox-head-admits-impeded-child-abuse-investigation-purpose
Former Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson’s admissions rock Royal Commission
March 04, 2015
THE former headmaster of Knox Grammar has addressed allegations he groped a teenage girl at a school musical production in 1989.
Lucy Perry, the CEO of a global women’s health charity has told a child sex abuse inquiry Ian Paterson cupped her bottom and put his hand near her genitals during rehearsals for a joint school production of Guys and Dolls.
Dr Paterson said on Wednesday it was “absolutely not” true that he had inappropriately touched the then 15-year-old girl.
Giving evidence at the inquiry, Dr Paterson earlier admitted deliberately impeding a police investigation into pedophile teachers working at the school.
Fronting the royal commission into child sex abuse, Ian Paterson said on Wednesday that when a police inspector from the child protection unit approached him in 1996 about six teachers at Knox about whom there had been complaints, he did not give her full information....
The admission follows evidence given yesterday, when the man who was the principal over three decades of sex abuse at the prestigious Sydney school said he didn’t know touching was a crime and “wasn’t aware” that touching, groping, and cases of sexual molestation reported to him were a matter for the police.
Appearing before the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse, former Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson confronted claims he had covered up sex abuse over his 30 years at the school’s helm from 1969 to 1998....
When a boy complained in 1989 that teacher Damien Vance had groped and propositioned him Dr Paterson told the 15-year-old to take time out — go to the library and think about the allegations.
When pressed by David Lloyd, counsel assisting the royal commission, as to why he did not tell police Dr Paterson said: “Because the boy was a drama boy”....
Dr Paterson didn’t report the incident to police of the Department of Family and Community services (then DOCS). He said it never crossed his mind.
He denied covering up the attack for the sake of the school’s reputation, but had not considered “touching” a crime.
“I’m not aware that was a matter for the police or a crime.”
GLOWING REFERENCES FOR OFFENDERS
In 1991 Vance was given a “strong” reference by Dr Paterson. The reference allowed Vance to register with the Victorian Department of Education as a permanent teacher.
Dr Paterson was questioned about another incident, where a balaclava-wearing man hid under a boy’s dormitory bed and groped a 14-year-old student.
He had not considered this a “very grave sexual assault” and defended not calling the police.
The man was believed by students to be teacher Chris Fotis, the school’s boarding master at the time.
Fotis was later asked to resign over a separate incident when he was caught masturbating in a car outside the school, but didn’t leave without a glowing reference from Dr Paterson....
Fotis, a Knox old boy, was hired without any reference check. It later emerged he had two sex assault convictions....
http://www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/former-knox-grammar-headmaster-ian-patersons-admissions-rock-royal-commission/story-fns0kb3z-1227247304556
Oxford child abuse report's key findings 3 March 2015
Up to 370 girls may have been the victims of child sexual exploitation (CSE) across the county over the past 15 years.
It comes after a gang of men were jailed in 2013 for abusing six girls in Oxford between 2004 and 2012.
Here are the key findings of the report by the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB).
The report found no evidence of wilful professional neglect or misconduct by police or social services but said there a "worrying lack of curiosity" about what was happening to the girls.
It said the issue of child sexual exploitation was not widely understood and officials failed to notice the signs of the abuse over a number of years.
Some of the girls were abused using objects such as knives and baseball bats while others were bitten, scratched, beaten or burnt.
The report said much of the extreme abuse was not escalated to senior managers but should have been.
In response to the question, "Could CSE have been identified or prevented earlier?" report author, Dr Alan Bedford, said: "The simple answer is yes."
Professional work was not good enough and the failure to recognise the signs of CSE, and the fact that cases were seen in isolation, meant it continued for longer than could have been the case....
The language used by professionals indicated they saw the girls as the cause of their extreme behaviour instead of as victims and they received much less sympathy as a result, the report said.
"The child victims and their families feel very let down," wrote Dr Bedford. "Their accounts of how they perceived professional work are disturbing and chastening."....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-31708492
Pastor held over ‘satanic sex abuse’
March 3 2015 By Shain Germaner
Johannesburg - A suspected satanic ritual at a Boksburg church is at the centre of a case in which a 9-year-old boy was allegedly raped and molested by his grandparents, uncle and pastor.
The case was originally not pursued in 2013, when the boy was younger.
However, the SAPS’s Occult-Related Crime Unit was later brought in to investigate, culminating in the arrest of all four alleged abusers last month.
....Lieutenant-Colonel Hendrik de Jager said interviews with the child had revealed that over a period – possibly of several years – the group had allegedly raped and molested the boy multiple times.
On one occasion, the grandparents and uncle had allegedly taken the child to their place of worship, the Full Gospel Church of God in Witfield, Boksburg, where the pastor was based.
The four adults donned masks and red robes and constructed a circle of red stones, surrounding the child while they prayed in strange tongues.
They gave the child something to drink, while the pastor and uncle took off their clothes and began having sex.
The child was asked to touch the private parts of each of the adults while they, in turn, fondled him.
De Jager said the child was then told to take off his clothes.
The uncle then stood behind him and penetrated him – though it was not clear if this was done with an object.
The lieutenant-colonel told the court that the granting of bail to the four accused would be detrimental to the child’s mental health, as there had been numerous threats against the boy and his parents.
De Jager said a man who identified himself as a relative had phoned him to get off the case and threatened to strangle the child and his mother.
The parents had also reported that the uncle’s wife had driven past their house screaming: “We’re going to get you!”
He said the reason the boy was particularly frightened of the grandfather was that the elderly man had pointed a gun at the child and threatened to kill him if he spoke about the abuse.
De Jager said that, based on information from the child, police were able to find the grandfather’s firearm – further proof of the alleged threat.
Defence lawyer Henk Strydom insisted that his four clients would deny all the allegations, and that they wished to prove their innocence in court.
He insisted that the State’s case was weak, as the medical reports taken in 2013 had indicated there were no signs of abuse.
Strydom said police had found no evidence of any satanic rituals going on at the church. No red robes or masks were ever found.
De Jager said the lapse in time between the laying of the charge and now meant much of the evidence could have been hidden....
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/pastor-held-over-satanic-sex-abuse-1.1825989
Four alleged rapists, molesters granted bail
The magistrate granted bail, saying the case against the four accused wasn’t strong enough.
Masego Rahlaga | March 3, 2015
JOHANNESBURG - Four men accused of raping and molesting a nine-year-old boy at a church in Boksburg were granted bail in the Germiston Magistrates Court.
The boy’s grandparents, his uncle and a priest have been implicated and appeared in court on Tuesday afternoon.
The magistrate granted bail, insisting the case against the accused was not strong enough and gave the state time to investigate further.
The suspected satanic ritual allegedly happened at the Full Gospel Church of God in Boksburg.
The case was originally opened in 2013, but not pursued until the police’s occult-unit stepped in.
It was revealed in court on Monday that the abuse occurred over a period of several years and that the child and his parents had been threatened multiple times by the alleged perpetrators.
The four are expected back in court on 17 March....
http://ewn.co.za/2015/03/03/Alleged-rapists-molesters-granted-bail-in-Boksburg
