Royal Commission final report on the hell that was the Anglican North Coast Children's Home between 1940 and 1985 and continuing abuse of known adult victims who later sought assistance from the Grafton Diocese

Excerpts from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse: Report of Case Study No. 3 Anglican Diocese of Grafton's response to child sexual abuse at the North Coast Children's Home, 27 October 2014:

The North Coast Children's Home was set up in Lismore in 1919 to house children who were orphans or wards of the state, or had been abandoned or placed there by their parents. 

We heard evidence of frequent sexual, psychological and physical abuse at the Home between 1940 to 1985.

Former residents, Tommy Campion, CA, CB, CD, CH, CK, CN and two others, told us they were sexually abused by clergy, staff or other residents while living at the Home.

Finding 1: The physical, psychological and sexual abuse suffered by the former residents of the North Coast Children's Home who gave evidence to the Royal Commission had profound, long-lasting impacts on their lives and mental health….

Finding 2: At all relevant times, the North Coast Children's Home was:

* strongly associated with the Anglican Church and its predecessor, the Church of England

* controlled by the Board of Management, including the Rector of St Andrew's Church

Lismore in the Diocese of Grafton….

Finding 3: The Diocese of Grafton initially dealt with Tommy Campion's complaint by

providing a copy of the Pastoral Care and Assistance Scheme adopted by the Diocese in

2005. When faced with the group claim, the Diocese changed its response to Tommy

Campion's claim by stating that the Diocese and its Corporate Trustees had no legal

liability for sexual or physical abuse of a child by clergy, staff or other people associated

with the North Coast Children's Home…..

Finding 4: The Diocese of Grafton required group claimants to sign a deed of release

before counselling, acknowledgement, apology or financial settlement would be

provided, except for Tommy Campion, who was already receiving some counselling. This

was inconsistent with the Sydney Pastoral Care and Assistance Scheme that the Diocese of Grafton adopted in 2005….

Finding 5: By 10 October 2006, the Diocese of Grafton was not following its own policies

in its handling of the group claim as set out in the:

* Professional Standards Ordinance and Protocol for Dealing with Complaints of

Sexual Abuse, both adopted in 2004

* Pastoral Care and Assistance Scheme, adopted in 2005.

Finding 6: Bishop Keith Slater, then Bishop of Grafton, and the Diocese of Grafton should have managed the process under the 2004 Protocol for Dealing with Complaints of

Sexual Abuse when the group claim was being handled between the Diocesan and

claimants' solicitors.

Finding 7: The settlement negotiations on 19 and 20 December 2006 were conducted in

a hostile manner, contrary to the spirit of the 2005 Pastoral Care and Assistance Scheme

and the 2004 Protocol for Dealing with Complaints of Sexual Abuse….

Finding 8: The amounts offered to Tommy Campion, CA, CK, CL, CM and CN under the

group claim were substantially lower than if the claim had been resolved under the 2005

Pastoral Care and Assistance Scheme that the Diocese of Grafton had adopted. The

Diocese misled Tommy Campion and CA that the scheme would be followed.

Finding 9: In handling the group claim, the Diocese of Grafton did not apply the 2004

Professional Standards Ordinance and Protocol for Dealing with Complaints of Sexual

Abuse. As a consequence, it did not provide a sympathetic and proportionate pastoral

response to the group claimants.

Finding 10: By denying legal liability, on the basis that it did not control the North Coast

Children's Home, and not providing a pastoral response, the Diocese of Grafton's

response had a detrimental effect on abused former residents….

Finding 11: Bishop Keith Slater did not follow the Pastoral Care and Assistance Scheme in responding to Tommy Campion….

Finding 12: In 2012, when considering the request from Tommy Campion for information, Bishop Keith Slater acted to protect the interests of the former members of the Home's committee, including an elderly former member….

Finding 13: The Diocese of Grafton received further individual claims from former

residents of the North Coast Children's Home, but it did not deal with them in accordance with the Pastoral Care and Assistance Scheme or the settlement of the group claim….

Finding 14: Bishop Keith Slater did not refer either CB's or CC's claims to the Professional Standards Committee, which was contrary to clause 24(1) of the Professional Standards Ordinance 2004.

Finding 15: Between 2006 and 2012, the Primate advised Bishop Keith Slater that:

*  the group claimants should have their complaints properly heard and be offered

counselling and pastoral support

* he should seek out further people who had been abused at the North Coast

Children's Home

* he should inform the police of all criminal allegations which came to his attention

arising out of the North Coast Children's Home.

The bishop did not follow the Primate's advice….

Finding 16: Despite its knowledge of potential claims by 2005, the Diocese of Grafton did not make provision for settling child sexual abuse claims in its annual budgets for 2006, and 2008 to 2012.

Finding 17: Acknowledging that some assets might not be readily available, the Diocese

of Grafton had enough assets either in its name, or in the Corporate Trustees of the

Diocese of Grafton's name, to allow it to settle the claims of child sexual abuse made

between 2005 and 2011 consistent with the Pastoral Care and Assistance Scheme it

adopted in 2005.

Finding 18: The Diocese of Grafton did not make any financial provision for professional

standards matters. It prioritised the Clarence Valley Anglican School debt over its

financial obligations under the Protocol for Dealing with Complaints of Sexual Abuse and

the Pastoral Care and Assistance Scheme to pay abused former residents of the North

Coast Children's Home between 2007 and 2012….

Finding 19: The dioceses of Grafton and Newcastle could both have taken action in

response to the professional standards matters concerning Reverend Allan Kitchingman,

including his discipline. There was no clear system in place to determine which diocese

would assume responsibility.

Finding 20: From 2003 to 2013, Bishop Keith Slater was aware that Reverend Allan

Kitchingman had been convicted of sexual offences against a child, and had authority to

discipline him. Bishop Slater did not start disciplinary proceedings against the reverend.

Finding 21: From 2004, Reverend Patrick Comben was aware that Reverend Allan

Kitchingman had been convicted of sexual offences against a child but did not start

disciplinary proceedings against him.

Finding 22: In 2002, Archbishop Roger Herft, then Bishop of Newcastle, became aware

that Reverend Allan Kitchingman had been convicted of five counts of indecent assault

of a child at an Anglican home in the Diocese of Grafton. Between August 2002 and

February 2004, he did not start disciplinary proceedings against the reverend.

Finding 23: From 2006 to 2007, Philip Gerber, as Professional Standards Director of

Grafton and Newcastle, was aware that Reverend Allan Kitchingman had been convicted

of sexual offences against a child but did not start disciplinary proceedings against him.

Finding 24: The General Synod recommended guidelines for parish safety in 2009. The

Diocese of Newcastle did not adopt guidelines for managing people of concern until

around October 2013. As a result, there were no guidelines to manage any risk posed by

Reverend Allan Kitchingman's involvement in Newcastle Cathedral until October 2013.

Finding 25: From September 2005 until April 2013, no disciplinary action was taken

against Reverend Campbell Brown by the Diocese of Grafton or the Diocese of

Newcastle. During the same period, the Diocese of Grafton took no disciplinary action

against Reverend Winston Morgan.

Finding 26: From 2011 to 2013, Bishop Keith Slater did not refer allegations of criminal

conduct made by CB and CC to NSW Police. This was inconsistent with the 2004

Professional Standards Ordinance and Protocol for Dealing with Complaints of Sexual

Abuse….

Finding 27: The establishment of the National Register of the Anglican Church is a

positive initiative.

Finding 28: At the time of the hearing, the National Register of the Anglican Church did

not record the names of all people who might need to be registered because various

dioceses have been unable to review all their files to determine whether an entry should

be made….

In 2006, over 40 former residents began a group claim against the Diocese of Grafton. They claimed to have suffered physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the Home between 1940 and 1985. Twenty of those claims involved child sexual abuse by clergy, staff, foster parents and others.

On 5 January 2006, Simon Harrison, from the law firm Nicol Robinson Halletts, wrote to Reverend Comben about the claim. Mr Harrison advised that he had instructions to represent 20 former residents who had been abused.

He asked for help identifying some former staff and for some documents related to the Home. Reverend Comben opposed giving this information. He said that he did not want to give the claimants' solicitors 'honorary research assistance'.

On 16 January 2006, Reverend Comben wrote to Peter Roland, from the law firm Foott Law & Co, with instructions to act in the matter for the Church. He asked Mr Roland about raising 'legal cases which deny the liability of an employer for the criminal acts of employees'.

Reverend Comben said that he thought Bishop-in-Council was influenced by a potential claim for $4 million that had been mentioned in the media. He said that

Bishop-in-Council's position was: 'defend it'.

Reverend Comben said he felt 'disappointed' that the matter was proceeding through lawyers. He asked Mr Roland to seek further details so they could give 'a Christian response' along with the legal response.

Mr Roland replied to Mr Harrison seeking more details about the assaults and perpetrators, and said that the Diocese was not a legal entity. He asked which people they proposed to hold liable for the assaults, and on what basis 'given the time which has elapsed'….

It was not until 2013 that the Anglican Church significantly revised its response to former residents of the Home. In May 2013, Ms Hywood, the new acting Registrar, reported to the Primate her concerns about the Diocese of Grafton's handling of claims over the previous six years. She noted that professional standards files were not properly kept or processed, and matters had not been referred to the Professional Standards Director.

Bishop Slater resigned as Bishop of Grafton on 17 May 2013. He issued a media statement apologising for not giving abuse claimants access to the Professional Standards Director.

In September 2013, the Diocese published an apology in several newspapers for the abuse at the Home and its handling of subsequent claims.

In October that year, Bishop-in-Council passed a revised Care and Assistance Scheme. This scheme is not as detailed as the Sydney Care and Assistance Scheme. The Diocese reviewed all claims that had not been investigated under the 2004 Protocol and has offered revised settlements.

Read the full report of Case Study no. 3.

Norma’s Project: A Research Study into the Sexual Assault of Older Women in Australia

Excerpts from Norma's Project:  A Research Study into the Sexual Assault of Older Women in Australia, June 2014 (Authors Rosemary Mann, Philomena Horsley, Catherine Barrett, Jean Tinney):

The idea of older women as victims of sexual assault is relatively recent and little understood. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that, despite the silence that surrounds the topic, such assaults occur in many settings and circumstances. The lack of community awareness can be partly attributed to commonly held assumptions that older women are asexual. How, then, can they be the target of sexual assault? What is unimaginable and unacceptable becomes unsayable or invisible.

* In Australia in 2011, there were 3.08 million people aged 65 years and over. There are higher proportions of older women than men over 65 years, with significantly more females than males aged 80 years and over (ABS 2012).

The overwhelming majority of older people live in private dwellings in the community – only 6% live in non-private dwellings, which include aged care homes and hospitals. Among those aged 85 years and over, 74% live in private dwellings (AIHW 2007).

Over 50% of women aged 65 years and over need some form of assistance to help them stay at home.

Among those receiving assistance, 83% received help from informal providers (including family and friends), and 64% received help from formal

providers (including government organisations as well as private for-profit and private not-for-profit agencies) (AIHW 2007).

Around two-thirds of permanent residents in aged care facilities are women (AIHW 2007).

* However, it is widely accepted that around one in five women (17% – 21%) over the age of 18 years have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15 (ABS

2013, 2006; de Visser et al. 2003, 2007). This rate has not changed over the past six years (ABS 2013).

In 2012, an estimated one percent (87,000) of adult women had experienced some form of sexual assault in the previous 12 months, excluding unwanted sexual touching (ABS 2013).

Women over the age of 45 years represented nearly 1 in 5 of this group (ABS 2006).

In the vast majority of cases (88%), the perpetrator was known to the victim (ABS 2013).

* All Government-subsidised aged care homes must report to the police and to the Department of Health and Ageing within 24 hours of receiving an allegation or suspicion of 'unlawful sexual contact' or 'unreasonable use of force'. In the last 12 months there has been a 14% increase in reports of alleged physical and sexual assaults: 349 reports of unlawful sexual contact and 29 reports of unlawful sexual contact and 'unreasonable force' (Commonwealth of Australia 2013). In both Australia and New Zealand, surveys of aged care managers have identified cases of sexual assault of residents (Sadler 2009; Weatherall 2001).

* The available research in relation to the sexual assault of older women suggests that:

offenders are primarily men, although women should not be excluded as potential offenders, particularly in residential aged care settings (Ramsey-Klawsnik et al. 2008; Holt 1993)

male offenders range in age from teenage males to elderly men (Jeary 2005)

a significant minority of convicted male offenders also have previous convictions for assaults against children and younger women (Lea et al. 2010; Del Bove et al. 2005).

* Research on the impacts on older women of recent experiences of sexual assault (or other forms of violence) as an older woman is far more limited. Some researchers characterise service providers' 'lack of sensitivity … to the gravity of the assaults' as striking (Burgess et al. 2000, p.14), while other researchers attest to the 'long-term, life-changing effects' on elderly victims despite efforts to put the trauma behind them (Jeary 2005, p.335)

* Medical literature indicates that older women who experience sexual assault are more prone to trauma and injury to the genital tract, compared to younger women (Muram et al. 1992; Ramin 1997; Jones et al. 2009; Templeton 2005; Morgan et al. 2011) and more likely to be admitted to hospital (Eckhert and Sugar 2008).

Importantly, experiences of sexual assault can also result in a decrease in both the quality and the length of older women's lives. For instance, one case analysis of 20 older people who were sexually assaulted, most of whom were over 70, indicated that over ½ died within a year of the assault (Burgess et al. 2000).

The full report can be read here.

Some 2014 media reports of sexual and/or physical assaults on older women

The Daily Telegraph 30 January 2014:

AN elderly woman has been sexually assaulted after answering a knock on her door of her unit on the NSW far north coast.

Police said about 8pm (AEDT) on Wednesday the 75-year-old opened the door of her Kingscliff unit to a man who forced his way in and sexually assaulted her before fleeing.

treatment.

The Sydney Morning Herald 13 April 2014:

A registered nurse faces prosecution by health authorities after he allegedly sexually assaulted an 89-year-old patient inside a Sydney public hospital.

The man will appear before a Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) tribunal after an elderly lady complained he entered her bed space, woke her up and inappropriately touched her in the Emergency Short Stay Ward at Nepean Hospital, in July 2012.

It is understood the HCCC will also analyse the role of senior staff who several months previously, chose to handle internally - and dismiss - a carbon copy complaint from another elderly woman relating to the same nurse.

NSW Police confirmed that three days after the second alleged incident took place, Nepean Hospital alerted them to ''an allegation of sexual assault''.

On Friday, the patient's two daughters confirmed a decision was made not to press charges because it would have been too traumatic for their mother, who has since passed away in February.

Nswcourts.com.au 12 May 2014:

A 57-year-old former Blue Mountains nursing home worker has been charged with six counts of indecent assault in nursing homes. He was fired after the facility management received complaints from seven elderly women between 2011 and 2014.

The Daily Telegraph reported that seven elderly women had complained about the man for offences that allegedly took place between 2011 and 2014.

He was given strict bail conditions and ordered to appear before Katoomba local court.

Within a month of the Blue Mountains worker being charged, a Wollongong man was jailed for sexually abusing a vulnerable and disabled patient at a nursing home. The woman was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and a stroke, which left her speechless and with very limited movement, requiring 24 hour care.

The Courier Mail 13 May 2014:

A COMMUNITY in Mackay is reeling after the callous sexual assault of an elderly woman on her property.

The Courier-Mail understands the 80-year-old lady – who lives alone – was attacked after she had been walking her dog.

A source close to the victim said her friend had just been for a walk to the local shops before the incident occurred.

Reports suggest a man approached her in the front yard of her Finch St property about 7pm and asked for directions to Lamberts Beach.

Police said he then forced the woman into the backyard where the sexual assault took place.

The assailant then fled the scene on foot.

The Sydney Morning Herald 7 July 2014:

A 46-year-old nurse will appear in court on Tuesday in relation to the deaths of two elderly women and an assault on a third at a Ballina nursing home.

Victorian police arrested the woman in Seaspray, Victoria, 240 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, about 11am on Monday, with warrants issued last week by the NSW Police Force’s Homicide Squad.

The woman had been employed as a nurse at the St Andrew's Village nursing home in Ballina.

UPDATE

The Daily Telegraph 9 June 2014:

A registered nurse accused of killing two elderly patients and assaulting another was investigated for similar offences in 2008.

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse: Cardinal George Pell exposed as being selective with the truth

The Sydney Morning Herald  11 March 2014:

Mr Ellis came away from a pivotal meeting with then Archbishop Pell in 2009 with the impression that the litigation had been “a runaway train with nobody at the wheel”. This was after years of legal action that had crippled Mr Ellis mentally and financially…
“No, it left me with the impression that Cardinal Pell was completely out of the loop on all of that decision making,” Mr Ellis said…

The Saturday Paper 15 March 2014:

But on Monday morning, just minutes before Ellis entered the witness box, counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness, SC, in her introductory remarks, dropped something of a bombshell.

She referred to a witness statement by Cardinal George Pell, not yet public because he was not due to appear until later in the week, in which he expressed “some concern” about the way the litigation between the church and Ellis had been handled. She quoted Pell:

“Whatever position was taken by the lawyers during the litigation, or by lawyers or individuals within the archdiocese following the litigation, my own view is that the church in Australia should be able to be sued in cases of this kind.”...

The Sydney Morning Herald 17 March 2014:

Monsignor Rayner who as Archdiocesan chancellor was the official church authority to deal with victim’s complaints, said he told Cardinal Pell about the amounts of money victims of sex abuse sought. But for an agreement to be reached, “finally the decision would have been made by the Archbishop himself”.

The Sydney Morning Herald 18 March 2014:

 Cardinal George Pell was calling all the shots in the notorious case in which the Catholic Church fought off the damages claim of abuse victim John Ellis, his solicitor has confirmed to the child sex abuse Royal Commission. The 2007 Ellis case established the defence which has insulated the church from paying damages to victims in similar cases ever since... 

 Cardinal Pell himself described the litigation against Mr Ellis as “legal abuse”, the Commission has been told. The case caused Mr Ellis harm and suffering, according to senior counsel for the Commission Gail Furness.

 For more than a week, before the Cardinal himself takes the stand, the Commission has been grappling with the question of how much Cardinal Pell knew. Now Paul McCann, the senior partner with Corrs Chambers Westgarth, which conducted the litigation for the church from 2004, has told the Commission he had no doubt the instructions he received through Cardinal Pell’s private secretary Dr Michael Casey came from the Cardinal himself. Cardinal Pell is due to appear early next week.

“What was your understanding of those instructions and whether or not they were informed by Cardinal Pell?’, asked commission chair, Justice Peter McClellan.

Mr McCann replied: “I didn’t have any doubt that the Cardinal was being kept up to date on developments in the case and it is obvious from some of the exchanges that he was in fact seemingly giving instructions as to various steps.’’

According to the solicitor, he was instructed by Dr Casey, who he believed was doing Cardinal Pell’s bidding in relation to several key decisions in the case. These included refusing Mr Ellis’ offer to mediate before the litigation, refusing a compromise offer to pay $750,000 plus costs before the case started and the decision not to put a counter offer to Mr Ellis….

ABC News 18 March 2014:

In a statement presented to the inquiry earlier this month, Cardinal Pell said he was not aware of ex-gratia offers made to Mr Ellis.

But Monsignor Brian Rayner, who represented the Sydney Archdiocese and Archbishop Pell in Towards Healing matters in 2004, has contradicted that statement.

Under cross-examination, Monsignor Rayner maintained the Archbishop was informed.

"I spoke to the Archbishop on every amount of money that was being offered to any particular victim," he said.

Despite saying he did not have authority, Monsignor Rayner offered Mr Ellis a $5,000 increase on the $25,000 payment before gaining the approval of Catholic Church Insurance.

In a lively exchange with the Church's counsel Peter Gray SC, Monsignor Rayner maintained that he had informed Archbishop Pell of the ex-gratia offers made to Mr Ellis.

"My evidence is correct and I've seen the contrary thoughts of the Archbishop and the Archbishop also has occasions when his recollection of events is not clearly accurate," he said.

He also said the Archbishop was very involved in Mr Ellis' case… 

The Sydney Morning Herald 22 March 2014:

The Catholic Church's insurer insisted on being "kept in the loop" in the John Ellis case after lawyers expressed concern at Cardinal George Pell's "tooth and nail" approach, according to evidence at the child sex abuse royal commission.

Peter Rush, then general manager of Catholic Church Insurance Ltd, complained to the business manager of the Sydney Archdiocese about being "kept out of the loop" in the case and warned this could jeopardise the church's insurance, the commission heard…

Dr Casey testified that it was his job to convey instructions to the church's lawyers, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, but the instructions came from Cardinal Pell.

"The general instructions were to vigorously defend the claim and to defeat the litigation, is that right?" asked Gail Furness SC for the commission.

"Yes", Dr Casey replied…

At a 2009 meeting Cardinal Pell told him the church's move from mediation to vigorous pursuit of his case was "unfathomable", Mr Ellis said...

Anglican Church still crying poor

Yet another organised religion which allowed paedophilia to flourish within its clergy is attempting to protect its wealth.......

Newcastle Herald 17 February 2014:

THE Anglican Church has warned the royal commission into child sexual abuse not to assume multibillion-dollar church assets can be sold to compensate abuse victims.

The warning comes in a submission to the commission from the titular head of the Australian church, Brisbane Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, and two senior church officials.

They were responding to a finding by Simeon Beckett, counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, that the Anglican Diocese of Grafton had enough assets to settle abuse claims from former residents of an orphanage at Lismore in northern NSW.

From evidence presented at a public hearing in November, Mr Beckett found the diocese put its own financial interests above the needs of abuse victims.

The diocese pleaded poverty when it came to finding money for people subjected to horrifying abuse in the North Coast Children’s Home in the 1960s, yet sold considerable assets to service a debt incurred when it built a loss-making private girls’ school......

What the Anglican Church sees as appropriate compensation packages for those children physically and/or sexually abused while in the care of a church orphanage in the Grafton Diocese still does not go above $75,000 per adult survivor.

Something for certain Clarence Valley shire councillors past and present to remember....

Certain Clarence Valley shire councillors past and present were almost fawningly eager to have this reverend lead prayers before council meetings:

At all relevant times the Anglican Diocese of Grafton had responsibility for the children in the North Coast Children’s Home....

By 26 September 2006 Reverend Comben and Peter Roland knew of at least 20 instances of sexual abuse against former residents of the North Coast Children’s Home...

From September 2006 Reverend Comben failed to take steps to refer all allegations of criminal conduct against children formerly resident at the North Coast Children’s Home to the NSW Police...

The Diocese of Grafton comprehensively failed to treat former residents of the North Coast Children’s Home who had been sexually and physically abused in a way which was sympathetic to their needs, fair and provided appropriate redress. Many of the former residents who informed the Diocese of Grafton of the abuse they had suffered at an Anglican Home for which the Diocese had responsibility were treated so poorly that the effect of what should have been a redress scheme, in fact, did more damage to them.

[Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses To Child Sexual Abuse, Public Inquiry Into The Response Of The Diocese Of Grafton Of The Anglican Church To Claims Of Child Sexual Abuse At The North Coast Children’s Home, Submissions Of Counsel Assisting The Royal Commission, 31 January 2014]

How the Anglican Church and its Grafton Diocese failed Northern Rivers communities

The Anglican Church North Coast Children’s Home has been the subject of eight days of evidence before the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses To Child Sexual Abuse.

Most of this evidence points to a manifest failure by the Anglican Church, its clergy and Grafton Diocese's administrative body to protect those children in its care and under its protection.

It comes as no surprise then to find that to date, despite his history while an active member of the Anglican clergy, now retired priest Allan Kitchingman’s name has never been entered onto the church’s own national register of all clergy against whom a notifiable complaint or a notifiable charge has been made.

BACKGROUND

Newcastle Herald, 6 August 2002, Page 7:

Judge Coolahan said he accepted that Father Kitchingham assaulted the boy during a 12-month period and had been of good character before and after 1975.

Newcastle Anglican Christ Church Dean Graeme Lawrence had spoken in support of Father Kitchingham [sic] in court.

References on Father Kitchingham's [sic] behalf were tendered from Bishops of Brisbane and Bathurst, which were not publicly available......

Anglican year books show Allan Kitchingman was at Singleton from 1963-66, Wallsend 1966-68, Lismore 1969-70, Eureka/Clunes/Dunoon 1971-72, Lismore 1973-76, Mullumbimby 1976-81, Tweed Heads 1981-88, Tamworth 1988-97, and Darwin 1997-2000 until he retired.

Newcastle Herald November 14 2010:

The names of a number of other former Newcastle Anglican members will be entered on the church's national professional standards register according to the terms of a church canon in 2007.

They include Robert Ellmore, jailed for nine years for offences against children over more than four decades; trainee priest Ian Neil Barrick, jailed for two years for offences against a 14-year-old in 1998; Allan Kitchingman, jailed for offences against a 14-year-old in 1975; and Stephen Hatley Gray, 68, a former rector of Wyong given a good behaviour bond after sexually abusing a juvenile in 1990.

Newcastle Herald, 8 November 2013:

THE late Newcastle Anglican Bishop James Housden kept a ‘‘very careful watch’’ on Allan Kitchingman when the former ‘‘nightclub entertainer’’ and major record company public relations officer studied to be a priest at St John’s College, Morpeth, from 1960.

That was because of Kitchingman’s ‘‘earlier background and associations’’, the bishop said in a letter in 1968.

But when Kitchingman was charged with a ‘‘child sex matter’’ in 1968, the bishop offered his immediate support and pledged to keep him in the ministry ‘‘under a bishop who would be fully informed of the circumstances’’.

Two weeks later, in late December 1968, Kitchingman was interviewed by a Grafton Bishop and appointed to Lismore parish, which included the church-run North Coast Children’s Home.

In a letter to Kitchingman in January 1969 Bishop Housden wrote that he was ‘‘glad to know that the Bishop of Grafton was so kind and understanding’’.

‘‘I ... believe that you can and will have a happy and fruitful ministry there,’’ Bishop Housden wrote.

In 2002 Kitchingman pleaded guilty to five charges of sexually abusing a North Coast Children’s Home youth, 14, in 1975 and 1976. He was jailed for 18 months.....

Newcastle Herald 22 November 2013:

HISTORICAL Newcastle Anglican diocese files alleging ‘‘falsification of records’’, including those of child sex offender priest Allan Kitchingman, were found this year and referred to police, an explosive statement to the royal commission into child abuse has said.

Diocese professional standards director Michael Elliott has told the commission about an anonymous 2002 letter which said the ‘‘disappearance’’ of Kitchingman from a clergy list in 1968 and his subsequent move to the Grafton diocese ‘‘could today be construed as a type of cover-up’’.

‘‘This ‘disappearance’ was deliberate,’’ the  letter said.

In 1968 Kitchingman was convicted of an indecent assault on a male, although the commission heard on Monday ‘‘such an act is no longer a criminal offence’’.

ROYAL COMMISSION INTO INSTITUTIONALRESPONSES TO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE Public Hearing (Day 16) 18 November 2013:

Reverend Kitchingman was convicted in 1968 of one

count of indecent assault of a male while he was a priest

in the Diocese of Newcastle. He was sentenced at the

Newcastle Court of Sessions, placed on a recognisance and

given a two-year good behaviour bond. The Bishop at the

time wrote a reference for him, which he sent to the judge.

The offence did not apparently concern his priestly duties

and today such an act is not a criminal offence.

Nonetheless, Reverend Kitchingman was removed from his

position in the Diocese of Newcastle and the bishop

assisted him to find a place in the Diocese of Grafton.

The then Bishop of Grafton accepted him in the knowledge of

the offence and undertook to place him with an archdeacon

who understood the situation. Reverend Kitchingman then

moved to Lismore in the Diocese of Grafton where he became

assistant priest.

By 1975, he was the chaplain of the North Coast

Children's Home and had conducted evening services there

for several years. He had also had frequent access to

children in the home, teaching them music, drama and

performance, as well as in his pastoral duties.

In 2001, Reverend Kitchingman was arrested and charged

with a number of counts of indecent assault on a 12 and

13-year-old boy who was under his care at the time. The

indecent assaults involved Reverend Kitchingman

masturbating his victim and performing oral sex on him on

numerous occasions over a 12-month period.

He was sentenced on 5 August 2002 to periods of

imprisonment of 9, 10, 11 and 12 months for the first four

offences, to be served concurrently, and a partially

concurrent sentence of two and a half years for the fifth

and most serious offence. His non-parole date meant he was

to serve a maximum of 18 months' imprisonment.

At the time of Reverend Kitchingman's conviction the

then Bishop of Newcastle, Roger Herft, now the Archbishop

of Perth, was informed by an anonymous source that the 1968

conviction had not been put before the District Court. The

evidence is likely to reveal that he raised the issue with

the Office of Public Prosecutions.

The primary question for this public hearing with

respect to Reverend Kitchingman is whether steps were taken

to discipline him in the Diocese of Newcastle and in

Grafton after the conviction.

Reverend Kitchingman was resident in the Diocese of

Newcastle up until his conviction and then after his period

of imprisonment. Evidence will be adduced that during the

period 2002 to 2007 his name appeared in the Anglican

Directory as a member of clergy.

ROYAL COMMISSION INTO INSTITUTIONALRESPONSES TO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE Public Hearing (Day 23) 27 November 2013:

Q. Ms Cosenza has just received an email from your office

annexing, in relation to the national register, what

appears to be a national register report. I will just hand

up three copies for the Bench and one for Mr Drevikovsky.

The email we have received is from Ms Mary Phipps-Ellis.

Is that your executive assistant?

A. Yes, it is.

Q. You will see that this is a national register report

with respect to Reverend Kitchingman?

A. Yes.

Q. There is a note at the bottom there that says:

There is currently no information on the

National Register for a person with the

name ...

Do you see that?

A. Yes.

Q. The information we had from Bishop Stuart was dated

14 November.

A. That's right.

Q. So do I take it that it is correct to say that

notwithstanding that communication from Bishop Stuart,

there does not appear to be an entry in the register for

Allan Kitchingman?

A. That is technically a correct conclusion, but I don't

know that it addresses the substance of what Bishop Stuart

has said.

When are organised religions finally going to freely admit the degree to which paedophiles and violent personalities number in the ranks of their clergy?

ABC News 27 August 2013:

The Anglican Church set up a national register in 2004 designed to provide a database for information if a member of clergy had a complaint or finding of abuse established against them.

The General Secretary of the Anglican Church Martin Drevikovsky told the Commission that right now there are hundreds of abuse investigations taking place nationwide.

"In the case of Sydney it was 600. In the case of Melbourne I know it was hundreds," he said.

He said the number of clergy to make it onto the register is expected to be far fewer when the review is completed in the coming months.

What ABC News is not saying is that in relation to abuse allegations the Anglican Church is understood to have a record of 122 clergy who are persons of concern and up to 209 more clergy who are under investigation in relation to emotional/physical/sexual abuse.

It would appear that some of these alleged offenders/members of the Anglican clergy were not reported to police until earlier this year – presumably only after the church realised that it could not avoid giving an accounting of it actions to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

UPDATE

The Daily Examiner 27 November 2013:

Martin Drevikovsky, General Secretary, General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia told the commission this morning that the register was incomplete.

He said that when the royal commission was announced, every diocese was given directions to "search for (complaint) files and review them to ensure all necessary steps had been taken and if not, to take immediate action".

As a result, Mr Drevikovksy said, "a large number of files have come to light".

He said an estimated 209 files were listed for review and expected that between 40 and 45 and "possibly more" names would be added to the persons of concern register.

Earlier, Grafton/Newcastle Diocese Professional Standards Director Michael Elliott said at least four names of concern from northern NSW region had not been added to the register including that of Allan Kitchingman, a former Lismore priest who was jailed in 2003 over the sexual assault of a teenage boy.

Mr Elliott also confirmed that along with the North Coast Children's Home files, there were between 10 and 15 files involving allegations against members of the Grafton Diocese which had yet to be reviewed.
The hearing continues