The Catholic Church says education staff have been cleared of any cover-up over sex abuse allegations at a Darling Downs school in southern Queensland. A former teacher faces 46 charges of sexually abusing children, while the principal has been charged with failing to report the matter to police.
The Toowoomba teacher plans to plead guilty to the charges in the District Court later this year.
The principal is due to stand trial in the Magistrates Court in November.
Toowoomba Bishop William Morris says an investigation by the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board and an independent internal review found the school and the local Catholic education office did not try to protect themselves when the allegations first surfaced in 2007.
But two Catholic education workers will no longer be allowed to work on student protection issues.
Bishop Morris says the local student protection kit will be updated, teachers and staff retrained and an expert will be appointed to oversee student protection in the diocese.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to us or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
SIC: ABC