SENIOR OFFICER DETAILS OWN ABUSE AT THE HANDS OF PRIEST DURING SPECIAL COMMISSION

A senior police officer has broken down while giving evidence at the Special Commission of Inquiry into matters of child sexual abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese of the Catholic Church.

During questioning in Newcastle today Superintendent John Gralton told the Commission that he himself was abused by a priest at a Catholic School, an assault he said, which was witnessed by 40 other students.

He told the Commission he gave evidence to investigators in relation to that incident and information he had relating to assaults on other students at the time.

The highly emotional testimony came during questioning over the attitude police displayed during investigations surrounding allegations of a church cover-up brought forward by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox.

Superintendent Gralton said the notion that police had concealed information regarding child sexual abuse to protect the church “could not be further from the truth” and was “fanciful”.

The inquiry, which was sparked by claims of a cover-up from Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, is looking into how police handled investigations into the Church and the extent to which matters of child sexual abuse were concealed by members of clergy.