Australian Police alerted to child-sex claims at St Stanislaus in 1997

From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Australia

Other stories from Australia

• 3 December 2009: Wikinews interviews Goronwy Price about the upcoming by-election in the Bradfield electorate of the Australian parliament
• 1 December 2009: Wikinews interviews Stephen Murphy about the upcoming by-election in the Higgins electorate of the Australian parliament
• 23 November 2009: Australian sport may be on the cusp of change
• 22 November 2009: Australian Football League to hold match in China
• 19 November 2009: Uruguay qualify to take last spot in 2010 FIFA World Cup

...More articles here

Location of Australia

To write, edit, start or view other articles on Australia, see the Australia Portal

Police were made aware of the current allegations surrounding St Stanislaus College in 1997

Following the escalation of investigations into St Stanislaus College in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, Wikinews has obtained a police statement from an alleged victim made in 1997 against priest Brian Joseph Spillane. Spillane is facing 33 charges relating to the allegations.

It had been believed that Bathurst detectives set up Strike Force Header after receiving a complaint from a former St Stanislaus student last year. The complainant came to the police's attention after he came to Bathurst handing out fliers documenting alleged abuses at the school and providing a link to a website he had set up. St Stanislaus College contacted police and asked them to investigate. Police contacted the alleged victim and asked him if he would like to make a complaint.

In the statement obtained by Wikinews, the same man complained to detectives at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia about abuse by Spillane at St Stanislaus. In the graphic statement, he describes abuse which began following a poker game with the priest at the centre of the allegations. The statement describes further abuses spanning several months.

Bathurst Police refused to comment when contacted about the statement today.

Related news

• "Oldest Catholic boarding school in Australia at centre of child-sex claims". Wikinews, August 27, 2008

This exclusive report features first-hand journalism by one or more Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable. Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators. Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.