The Diocese of Toowoomba is bracing itself for the possibility of more legal action should former students of teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes come forward with further allegations of child sexual abuse.The Chronicle reports that Byrnes, 61, pleaded guilty in Toowoomba District Court on Wednesday to 10 counts of rape of children under 12, 33 counts of child molestation and one of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child under 12.
The offences took place between January, 2007, and September, 2008. Wednesday's court appearance was the first time Byrnes' identity could be made public and police now expect further complaints to arise from other people who had been students of the former Christian Brother now that his identity has been spread through the media.
News Limited papers are reporting that parents of Byrnes' victims have expressed outrage the Catholic Church has only now launched an internal inquiry to trace more possible victims at six other schools where he taught during almost 40 years.
More than a year after Byrnes' arrest and confession to abusing young girls at a Toowoomba primary school, Catholic Education yesterday said it was examining the files at six schools he taught at in Sydney and Queensland.
Toowoomba Bishop William Morris said on Wednesday that it was "his intention" to contact his counterparts in the three relevant diocese "in relation to this matter".
Queensland's Catholic Education executive director Mike Byrne said yesterday a decision was taken to wait for Byrnes' expected guilty plea before acting.
"Following the guilty plea and public naming of Gerard Byrnes, the three relevant Queensland Catholic School authorities are examining files associated with his period of employment at schools in these diocese prior to 2001," Mr Byrne said.
"The directors have also indicated they will write to the school communities this week to inform them of the outcome of their examination of the files."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to the CW Team 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 the CW Team agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
CW Team
SIC: CTHAU