Paedophile childcare worker Shannon McCoole was identified as ‘high risk’ but still hired by Families SA, royal commission hears

PAEDOPHILE childcare worker Shannon McCoole was identified as ‘high risk’ during an application process for work with Families SA but was offered work anyway, a royal commission has heard.

McCoole hired despite being flagged as ‘high risk’

MANY “red flags” were raised about the behaviour of Shannon McCoole — including a girl nicknaming him “Mr Paedophile” — before the former Families SA carer’s arrest for sexually abusing young children, a royal commission has heard.

The Child Protection Systems Royal Commission is examining how McCoole, who was also an administrator of a global child pornography website, was able to commit offences against children in his care between 2011 and 2014. He was jailed for 35 years in August last year.

In her opening statement yesterday, Counsel Assisting, Emily Telfer, listed concerns raised by children or other workers about McCoole’s behaviour — many of which went unreported or were not investigated.

Ms Telfer detailed a number of “red flag” incidents which may “if investigated or highlighted, have led to greater scrutiny on McCoole’s activities”.

They included:

A YOUNG girl called McCoole “Mr Paedophile” but her comments were not investigated or “escalated”.

A WORKER who walked in on McCoole holding a young child’s legs wide open on a change table, but without a nappy nearby. They did not report the incident, instead resolving to “keep a closer eye on McCoole”.

ANOTHER worker who watched as McCoole allowed a young boy to place his hand on his crotch. They did not report or record the incident.

One concern about a “tickling game” McCoole played with a young girl prompted investigation by the Care Concern Investigation Unit and was referred to police.

The worker who raised the concerns was reportedly called a “f...ing b.....” by a supervisor.

A separate worker wrote to Families SA management about her, saying her “willingness to condemn a fellow worker, simply based on her feelings and the connecting of imaginary dots, is quite dangerous and professionally intolerable”.

Ms Telfer questioned whether the comments was representative of “a broader attitude about how workers who raise concerns were treated”.

She also tendered a series of documents including logs of online chat room conversations involving McCoole but Royal Commissioner Margaret Nyland has ordered that the contents of the chat logs not be made public. Ms Telfer said the hearings over coming weeks would examine how McCoole “was placed in a position which permitted him to offend so prolifically and whether, in fact, he was able to do so without being noticed”.

“The frequency and severity of his offending was breathtaking,” she said.

The commission heard McCoole was identified as “high risk” and “very unsuitable” in psychological testing as part of applying to work with Families SA, because he had “endorsed statements which were considered to be potentially associated with psychological disturbance and personality problems”.

Ms Telfer said McCoole’s offending began almost immediately after he started work with at risk children in residential care and he continued working with children until the night before his arrest in June, 2014.

If McCoole is called to give evidence, it will likely be near the end of hearings.

It would not be “an opportunity for him to justify his actions” but to give “his unique perspective on the system gaps that opened up opportunities for him to offend,” Ms Telfer said. Hearings are expected to run for six weeks and are closed to the public.