Royal Commission hears Families SA sex abuser Shannon McCoole warned colleagues about paedophiles

CONVICTED child abuser Shannon McCoole told colleagues they could be “sitting next to a paedophile and not even know” before he was arrested for child sex offences, a Royal Commission has heard.

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CONVICTED child abuser Shannon McCoole told colleagues they could be “sitting next to a paedophile and not even know” before he was arrested for child sex offences, a Royal Commission has heard.

Families SA worker Jessica Pinos told the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission today that she had attended a training day with McCoole where the group had discussed the effectiveness of criminal history checks for people working with vulnerable children.

“People were saying in general that they’re somewhat irrelevant because you need to be convicted (of an offence) to be picked up,” Ms Pinos said.

“Shannon proceeded to tell the class that you could be siting next to a paedophile and not even know.”

It is understood the training took place in the latter half of 2012.

McCoole was arrested in June, 2014, and sentenced late last year to 35 years in jail for abusing young children in his care between 2011 and 2014.

Shannon McCoole in a police photo.

McCoole, whose abuse prompted the royal commission, worked for both Families SA and NannySA.

Families SA staffer Robert Griffin, who previously acted as a senior youth worker in state-run homes where McCoole worked, also gave evidence to the commission today.

He said he had trusted the word of McCoole because he had passed screening processes to gain work with the child protection agency.

Mr Griffin took a phone call from McCoole one night in April, 2014, about a distressed young girl in his care.

The girl reported that McCoole had barged in on her in the toilet with her pants down, using a key to unlock the door.

It was reported that she called McCoole a paedophile.

McCoole said he had tried to warn the girl but she did not respond so he entered the bathroom because the girl had a history of self-harm and he was concerned for her safety.

He said she was fully clothed.

Mr Griffin went to the house to assess the situation.

He said he considered both accounts of the incident but chose to believe McCoole because “he’s the one who’s jumped through all the hoops to get this job ... been through all the scrutiny ... (and) given that she self-harms and she does tell fibs quite frequently”.

When Mr Griffin later saw news of McCoole’s arrest on the front page of The Advertiser he said his “mind went back to this incident”.

“(There was) the sense that ‘oh my God, what if she was telling the truth?’,” he told the commission.

Earlier, Families SA youth worker Corinne Hams told the commission that McCoole’s actions had ruined her trust in her colleagues.

“I used to trust my colleagues. I guess they go through a six-month application process (so) it’s hard not to trust them,” she said.

Ms Hams made the comments after being asked whether she had considered that difficult behaviour exhibited by a young boy in care could have resulted from abuse by a carer.

She said such suspicions were “not even on the radar”.

Other workers expressed disbelief to the commission that children could fall victim to abuse while in the care of the state.

Former NannySA worker Janet Gregory gave evidence about concerns over a female toddler who was later found to have been abused by McCoole.

She noticed redness when changing the girl’s nappy.

She considered the girl could have been abused by a family member but was reluctant to think it could have been a paid carer.

“When you look back now and this (McCoole abuse revelations) has happened, it’s hard,” she said.

“I could kick myself now. It’s been killing me. I just couldn’t believe that a child would be in care and these things could happen to her.”

Ms Gregory called in another carer on shift in the same house, a female contract emergency care worker who cannot be named because of a non-publication order, to examine the toddler.

The second woman said the child’s groin looked “very red”, “irritated”, and “not right”.

However, she said it “didn’t even enter my mind that something like that (sexual abuse) could happen to her (in state care)”.

The commission also heard there were “lots of rumours around the workplace” at the time a report was lodged against McCoole in June, 2013, about concerns that he may have abused a girl in his care.

The report led to an internal investigation and was passed on to police.

McCoole was suspended but later cleared to return to work.

A colleague and “close friend” of the woman who made the report, who cannot be named because of a non-publication order, told the commission it took a significant toll.

“She was a nervous wreck ... she started losing her hair,” she said, adding the woman also lost “huge amounts” of weight.