Maitland-Newcastle Catholic diocese is paying an "unprecedented" cost
for failing to stop serial paedophile priests over decades, with at
least $13 million compensation to the victims of two child sex abusers
and the certainty of further claims.
The diocese is believed to have
paid more than $7 million to victims of John Sidney Denham in the past
year, surpassing the $6 million it paid to victims of Vince Ryan.
The
Ryan compensation was believed to be one of the highest total payouts
by the church in Australia to the victims of a single priest.
The
diocese has also paid an unknown amount, believed to be in the hundreds
of thousands of dollars, to a small number of victims of serial child
sex abuser Denis McAlinden since 2001, and another undisclosed but
significant sum to a victim of convicted child sex abuser and Catholic
lay teacher Tony Bambach.
In all four cases the church paid a
greater financial penalty after proof it knew the priests and teacher
were child sex abusers but failed to stop them.
Lawyers
specialising in church abuse cases and the victims' rights group Broken
Rites believe Maitland-Newcastle is possibly unique in Australia in the
size of payments, because the church itself has been found liable as
well as its priests.
"They [the Church] try to argue paedophile
priests are a few bad apples, but in this case they're paying because it
wasn't just the bad apple. The whole system was bad," a Newcastle
victim of Denham said.
In three of the four cases: Denham,
McAlinden and Bambach, the church faces more civil action from child sex
victims and, in the case of Denham, further police investigations after
"numerous" men made further statements to police after his conviction
in July last year to 13 years and 10 months' jail.
"It is
astounding that none of the criminal assaults were ever reported by the
diocese to the police," solicitor John Ellis, who has represented
victims of Denham and McAlinden, said.
Australian Lawyers
Alliance NSW spokesman Dr Andrew Morrison, SC, said it was "a very great
concern" how the church's representatives had been able to sexually
assault children over decades in Maitland-Newcastle diocese, after their
offending became known to senior clergy.
In all four cases there
was proof that people were ignored, silenced or abused when they raised
sexual assault complaints with church representatives, or the offenders
were moved to other parishes or schools by the church without reporting
to police.
Detective Sergeant Kristi Faber confirmed police were
conducting further investigations after "numerous" men came forward
after Denham was sentenced in July last year.
People with information on
the priest are asked to contact Charlestown police.
The diocese did not want to comment.