Trinity Mount Ministries

Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Catholic Church Paid $213 Million To 4,445 Children Sexually Abused By Pedophile Priests In Australia


These days, the Roman Catholic Church is synonymous with child sexual abuse. We owe nobody an apology for saying this. It's the truth. Cases of child sexual abuse and subsequent cover-ups committed during the 20th and 21st centuries by Catholic priests, nuns, and members of the Roman Catholic Order have led to numerous allegations, investigations, trials and convictions. The abused include boys and girls, some as young as 3 years old, with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14. It is beyond imagination that these so-called men and women of God have molested innocent children in this widespread way. The abuse is a worldwide problem in the church. There aren’t accurate statistics to determine the number of children these pedophiles in the church have abused worldwide because of the extent. From 2001 to 2010, the Holy See, which serves as the central governing body of the Catholic Church, considered sex abuse allegations involving approximately 3,000 priests dating back up to fifty years. Cases worldwide reflect patterns of long-term abuse and of the church hierarchy regularly covering up reports of alleged abuse.


Diocesan officials and academics knowledgeable about the Roman Catholic Church have revealed that sexual abuse by the pedophiles in the church is generally not discussed, and thus is difficult to measure. In 2014, the Vatican said 3,420 credible accusations of sexual abuse committed by priests had been referred to its institution over the past 10 years, and that 824 clerics were defrocked as a result. However, a new investigation carried out in Australia has shed light on the damning practice of Catholic priests and nuns in the country. According to the report, the Catholic Church paid US$213 million to victims of sex abuse committed by priests in Australia over decades. In 2002, a critical investigation by The Boston Globe in the United States led to worldwide media coverage of child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. By 2010, much of the reporting focused on abuse in Europe. In 2012, Australia also announced it was to investigate the abuses by the church. By 2013, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse commenced hearings on alleged Catholic Church sex abuse of children – mostly boys. In mid-February 2017, the commission issued a report revealing: “Catholic Church authorities made total payments of [AU]$276.1 million [US$213million] in response to claims of child sexual abuse received between 1 January 1980 and 28 February 2015, including monetary compensation, treatment, legal and other costs.” Of the 4,445 cases the church received between January 1980 and February 2015 in the country, the report said the church managed to identify 1,880 alleged perpetrators, who included 597 (32% ‘religious brothers,’ 572 (30%) priests, 543 (29%) lay people, and 96 (5%) religious sisters or nuns. According to the report, 90% of abusers were male while the abused were also mostly boys. 


According to the commission, sex abuse victims received AU$91,000 in compensation. The report by the commission also stated that the Christian Brothers group admitted during the hearing that both the highest total payment and the largest number of total payments is $48.5 million. It was paid in relation to 763 payments at an average of approximately $64,000 per payment. The Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church. Furthermore, the commission said the Jesuits had the highest average total payment at an average of approximately $257,000 per payment (of those Catholic Church authorities who made at least 10 payments). The Jesuit is an order of religious men in the Roman Catholic Church. Critics, including those in the Catholic Church who want justice for the victims, say the system of payments is unfair and not all victims receive the same opportunities or compensation. The Church's Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive, Francis Sullivan candidly admitted to local media that not all victims have equal opportunities or compensation. “Even though the church has paid $270 million and it took a long time to get its act together to do that, there's no doubt the system of paying people and compensating them is best done independently of the church through a national redress scheme. Some congregations pay far more than others. Some dioceses pay far more than others. It's still not a fair system,” he added. “It's a picture of great unfairness and inequity between survivors across Australia depending on where they placed their claim,” Helen Last, Chief Executive Officer of In Good Faith Foundation, which represents 460 abuse victims also told the Reuters news agency in an interview. 


Sunday, May 6, 2018

Detective Forced To Resign After Trying To Charge A Notorious Paedophile Priest

by Danny Tran

A former detective, who was financially and professionally ruined by his own superiors for trying to bring a paedophile priest to justice, will receive compensation almost 50 years after he was pushed out of Victoria Police.

Denis Ryan gave up his police pension when he chose to resign from the force after being ordered to drop his investigation into Monsignor John Day, a Catholic paedophile priest who preyed on children in the Mallee.

The decision had a profound impact on his life, costing him a marriage and the prospect of a comfortable retirement. Until now, he has lived in a rented unit on the proceeds of an aged pension.

But a month after his plight was revealed by the ABC, the Victorian Government has reached a confidential settlement with the 86-year-old.

"Using a colloquial term, I'm out of my socks," said Mr Ryan from his home in Mildura.
"Heck it's a great, great thing to hear," he said. "It'll make quite a difference to me."

Mr Ryan said he had no plans for the money at this stage.

"When I come down to earth, I'll think about such things," he said.

But on the question of redemption, Mr Ryan was much more certain.

"I don't think I'll ever feel vindicated," he said.

"It'll never leave my mind," he said. "I just think of the victims, they suffered so much more than me."

PHOTO When he resigned from the force, Denis Ryan lost his police pension and his benefits.

Three family photos on a cabinet, with the focus on a photo of a young man wearing a police uniform.
ABC RN: JEREMY STORY CARTER
'He was crucified for doing his job'
The details of the settlement have not been disclosed but it will be paid in a lump sum, according to Vernon Knight, who handled the negotiations on behalf of Mr Ryan.

Exposing a national shame

The key moments that led to one of Australia's most shocking inquiries.
"Denis is 86, he wants to live the remainder of his life with a measure of comfort and I guess validation, restoring some of the dignity that he would've lost over those years," Mr Knight said.

"We actually quantified that and said, 'Well wouldn't it be nice if you lived in your own unit and you had a few bob to do some of the things that you would've wanted to do?'"
But many in Mildura's tight-knit community see this as a recognition that goes far beyond the dollar amount Mr Ryan will receive.

"He was crucified for doing his job, for endeavouring to protect children and for endeavouring to call to account those who were responsible," Mr Knight said.
"At long last, he's had his day."

'Their allegiance was to a cathedral and not the people'
In the years after he resigned from the police force, Mr Ryan was forced to find work as a fruit packer and would later become mayor of the Mildura Shire.

But despite surrendering his badge, he pursued a relentless campaign to expose the role that Victoria Police's most senior officers played in covering up for Monsignor Day.

In 2015, Mr Ryan testified before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

"We do not doubt that Victoria Police transferred Detective Ryan from Mildura for investigating allegations that Monsignor Day had sexually abused children in Mildura," the royal commissioners wrote in their findings.

Victoria Police officially apologised to Mr Ryan in 2016, but the weight of the force's actions continue to weigh on him.

"I think very much of the then-children that are now adults whose lives have been shattered by the acts of a paedophile priest," he said.

"At the time, Gerald Ridsdale, who's another notorious paedophile, he would've been caught in the net if the police had listened to me ... but they didn't.

"Their allegiance was towards a cathedral and not to the people of Victoria that they'd sworn an oath to protect. They did not protect them."

But Mr Ryan had a message for the Premier.

"I certainly want to say to the Government of Victoria, led by Daniel Andrews, when he heard this, he leapt into action and finished within a month what has taken 47 years," Mr Ryan said.

"I'm very pleased. Thank you."

Trinity Mount Ministries

Friday, April 6, 2018

Deputy Principal Among Men Charged After Child Porn Raid

Catholic secondary school has been charged with child porn offences following raids across Melbourne that allegedly uncovered abuse material featuring victims as young as newborns.

The man appeared at the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week charged with a string of offences including accessing child abuse ­material and knowingly possessing material.

Police confirmed on Wednesday that a 48-year-old man from Richmond who had been charged after recent raids had appeared in court last week and was due to appear again on July 6.

It is understood that he has been handed an interim suspension from teaching by the Victorian Institute of Teaching.

Another one of the men charged was a primary school teacher working in a non-classroom role as an administrator in a school office.

In a major operation, Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police raided homes across 19 suburbs and one country town over several days in March.

They discovered horrific child abuse material, child sex dolls, weapons and drugs.

“The material that we're talking about here that's been seized relates to images of children as young as newborn children to the age of 17 years," Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton told reporters on Wednesday.

"It involves them in sexually provocative poses, it involves them being subject to violence, it involves them being in degraded acts and it also involves torture."


The joint task force is now trying to identify the children in the thousands of videos and photos. No Australian children were in need of rescue at this stage.

Mr Patton warned people accessing "millions" of child abuse videos and photos monthly in Australia that they were "onto them."

original article

Trinity Mount Ministries

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Paedophiles, Rapists, Sex Offenders, Win Appeals To Work With Children

Dozens of paedophiles, rapists and violent sex offenders will be allowed to work with children after winning appeals

By Sam Duncan - Australia

Successful appeals at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) have resulted in over 12 working with children bans being overturned in just five years.

Those who have won their appeals include a man who was caught by police with a half-naked boy in his car.

A 31-year-old man fondled his partner's teenage daughter after taking her camping, and a another man, 22, raped a 13-year-old girl, ABC News reported.

A different offender raped a woman after a buck's party, while another was caught masturbating in public toilets and train stations in front of women and children.

Serial child rapist, 26, jailed after being found with hundreds of pornographic images and videos of girls as young as four.

'Paedophile hunter', 42, charged with 'menacing people over the internet' after the vigilante lured alleged child groomers online and performed citizen's arrests.

A man who was groomed and abused by one of the paedophiles told the ABC allowing the man to work with children was a huge risk.

'He shouldn't be allowed to have a working with children permit, simply because he's been convicted of paedophilia,' he said.

'It's like putting the kid in the candy store and walking out and all the jars are open.'

Child protection organisation Bravehearts' founder Hetty Johnson slammed the VCAT decisions, and said paedophiles should never be able to work with children.

'I just wouldn't want to risk a child's whole future on … a hope and a prayer that maybe this person would never do it again,' she said.

Working with children checks are automatically denied in Victoria for people convicted of crimes such as murder, rape and paedophilia offences.

Those with denied applications can then appeal to VCAT, which has overturned 38 cases in five years, including more than a dozen involving sexual offences.
In a statement to the ABC, VCAT said its role was to apply the law made by the Victorian Government. 

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been critical of children checks in the past, describing the system as a failure in 2015.

Martin Pakula, Victoria's Attorney General, said recommendations from the Royal Commission have led to a strengthening of the application process.

Mr Pakula said the State Government understands the concern in the community, and wants to do everything possible to ensure the safety of children.

READ MORE

Trinity Mount Ministries

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Facebook helped find missing kids - Hobart, Tasmania:

By Jennifer Crawley

TWO young Hobart children were found safe and well at the weekend after family members posted photos of them on social media and asked friends for information.

Inspector David Plumpton said police started their investigations as soon as they were told of the two missing children and at the same time family members posted details on Facebook.

Insp Plumpton said it was important to get the message out quickly, particularly in relation to children. “Posts asking for help to find missing people really engage with the community because people want to help,’’ he said.

Social media is proving a powerful tool for police in tracking missing people.

Last week’s National Missing Persons Week campaign in Tasmania reached a massive audience on Facebook, resulting in two arrests. The campaign was seen by tens of thousands of Tasmanians.

The campaign encouraged readers to follow their instincts when reporting information and started with individual photos of missing people on the popular Tas Police Facebook page.

The post on missing Latrobe man Andrew Jarman, who failed to return from a bicycle ride in August 2012, reached nearly 110,000 Facebook followers.

And the post that offered a $50,000 reward for information into the disappearance of Launceston man Christopher Watkins reached more than 100,000 followers.

The average reach of the eight missing people cases was more than 60,000 Facebook followers.

Insp Plumpton said the missing persons campaign aimed to dispel the myth that people had to wait 24 hours before reporting someone missing.

More charges are expected to be laid in the disappearance and suspected murder of Mr Watkins after police charged two men with conspiracy in connection with his disappearance.

Inspector John King said the campaign and offer of a reward for information provided fresh information that led to the conspiracy charges.

Anyone who has information they feel is relevant to a missing persons case is asked to call police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1800 333 000.



 

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Friday, August 7, 2015

Queensland child safety IT bungle worsens:


A senior Queensland bureaucrat has stood down amid growing embarrassment over the IT glitch that resulted in the mishandling of hundreds of cases of suspected child abuse in public schools.

Last week, it was revealed that 644 cases of suspected abuse were not passed on to police because a new reporting system, introduced in January, was not tested properly before it went live.

A political blame has game ensued, with the Labor government accusing the Liberal National Party of bungling the system's introduction during caretaker provisions before the January election.

The opposition, however, says Education Minister Kate Jones should have requested regular updates about the malfunctioning system's progress during the subsequent six-month period.

The Education Department's acting deputy director-general of corporate services has voluntarily stood down as investigations continue, Ms Jones has revealed.
In a separate error, a further 27 reports of suspected abuse have not been forwarded to authorities, she says.

"I have directed the director-general of the department to broaden Deloitte's independent investigation to examine all issues relating to the online student protection reporting system since its introduction in September 2013," Ms Jones said in a statement on Thursday.

The latest revelations came after a manual check of all 3822 cases of suspected abuse.
The Queensland Police Service has scrambled to follow up each of the reports and officers are conducting welfare checks in the most serious of cases.

The revelations showed the bungle was far from fixed, opposition education spokesman Tim Mander said.

"Given the new figures she (Ms Jones) has released, it raises more questions than answers," he said.

"The minister needs to be upfront and tell Queenslanders exactly what's happening."

Source: http://goo.gl/FLiMQk

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