A man who was convicted of child abuse in Australia, and served time, is now free in Ireland due to an extraordinary inter-agency bungle.
The former teacher and student at the prestigious Victorian school Geelong Grammar (pictured above), was convicted of four separate child abuse offences and was set to face new charges over alleged abuse at the private school between the late 1960s and mid-1970s, and in 1980. He had served time in a Queensland prison, but was deported on his release under tough laws introduced by former immigration minister Scott Morrison in late 2014. Unfortunately Victoria Police failed to flag their investigation with immigration, and now there are concerns about the man’s possible contact with children in Ireland..
The Australian Border Force said it didn’t know the man was being investigated in Victoria and claimed the state police didn’t alert them, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Irish citizen was accused in last year’s Federal child abuse royal commission of fondling a teenager and six year-old, and instructing senior students to perform sexual acts in underground rooms.
Victims are now concerned that it could take years before the man is brought to justice, and if the 74 year-old is found mentally or physically unfit to face trial in Australia, there is a risk the extradition bid could be overruled.
One victim told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he was abused as a nine-year-old. Another victim told the commission he was relentlessly abused by the former teacher from 1968 to 1973. The victim said that in 1968, when he was 11, the teacher told him to perform oral sex on him, and in 1969, the teacher took him to the last row of benches in a chapel and touched the boy’s genitals while masturbating.
“I felt ashamed of what had happened and that it had happened in the house of God,” the victim said. “I feel I have received a 47-year sentence which started when I was 11 years old. I have carried this sentence all my life without any remission.”
The man was convicted of child abuse in 1987 and was given 200 hours of community work. In 1995, he pleaded guilty to exposing a child to pornography and indecently dealing with a child, receiving a minimum of four months in prison.
In 2005, he pleaded guilty to two charges of child abuse and was jailed for a minimum of 10 months.
In 2013, he pleaded guilty to six child abuse charges, and was sentenced to a minimum of 12 months.
The Australian Border Force said it notified the Australian Federal Police and the Queensland Police Service before deporting the man. It said it didn’t know the man was being investigated in Victoria and said the state police didn’t alert them.
