Up to seven years jail time for people who conceal child sex abuse under new laws
PERPETRATORS who cover up child sex abuse will face harsher jail terms following backlash over the light sentence given to a former archbishop who concealed the crimes of a paedophile priest, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
PERPETRATORS who cover up child sex abuse will face harsher jail terms of up to seven years, following backlash over the light sentence given to a former archbishop who concealed the crimes of a paedophile priest.
Attorney-General Mark Speakman will today introduce new laws increasing the penalty for concealing child abuse from a maximum of two years in jail to five. If the cover-up was for any sort of benefit, the sentence will be as high as seven years in jail.
It comes after more than 13,000 people, many of them child sex abuse survivors, signed a petition calling for the change.
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Mr Speakman said the amendments will give NSW the nation’s toughest sentences for concealing child abuse.
“Child abuse can lead to a lifetime of trauma for victims and should be reported to police immediately,” Mr Speakman said.
“Increasing penalties … will deter people from protecting perpetrators or turning a blind eye to their crimes. These reforms will enable courts to impose longer sentences on people who protect paedophiles and other heinous child abusers.”
Child abuse survivor Paul Gray helped collect signatures to support tougher penalties, after the most senior Catholic in the world to be convicted of concealing child sex abuse — Adelaide’s Archbishop Philip Wilson — was sentenced to just 12 months of home detention.
Wilson, 67, was found guilty of concealing the sexual abuse of children by paedophile priest Jim Fletcher in the state’s Hunter Region.
“This is a great day for the children of NSW,” Mr Gray said.
“This law will put the responsibility onto every individual for the safety and care of our children and of the children to come.”
Mr Gray said a woman could have reported the sexual abuse he was subjected to at age 11 at the hands of his godfather and priest, Father Peter Rushton.
“She never came forward or reported the incident to police and … Rushton went on to sexually abuse dozens of innocent children over a period of 40 years with many of his victims taking their own lives,” Mr Gray said.
“This law will go a long way to reducing the number of children being abused and I believe it will have a profound effect of the number of people suffering mental illness.”
The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions has lodged an appeal against the leniency of Wilson’s sentence. It is due to be heard this month.
NSW and Victoria are the only states with a concealment offence specifically related to child abuse.
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