Sex-abuse inquiry refers 900 cases in first three years of work

Dozens of alleged child abusers have been brought to court across Australia as a result of royal commission evidence.

The royal commission will decide how Cardinal George Pell will give evidence. Picture: AFP

Dozens of alleged child abusers have been brought to court across Australia as a result of evidence supplied by the national royal commission, which has referred more than 900 cases to various police forces to date.

With at least 34 prosecutions brought so far, these figures ­reveal the scale both of the abuse suffered and of the commission’s work since it was established in January 2013.

Last month, police arrested two men, aged 77 and 89, over the alleged­ indecent assault of an 11-year-old schoolboy in western Sydney in 1974.

Police will allege the 77-year-old former teacher indecently ­assaulted the boy at a school in Liverpool then run by the Patric­ian Brothers Catholic order. The 89-year-old — also a former teacher — has been charged with being an accessory after the fact of buggery. Both will appear in court next month.

The revelation of the number of criminal prosecutions begun comes after the government on Friday committed to “lead the develo­pment” of a $4.3 billion nation­al compensation scheme for child abuse victims.

Recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, such a scheme is likely to be a key legacy of its work, due to be completed by the end of next year.

Separately, the commission will decide on Friday whether or how Cardinal George Pell will give evidence at a hearing at the Ballarat parish in Victoria, where he was a priest. Cardinal Pell has recently been unable to travel for health reasons.