Spanier, Godfather, Sally Anne, Christian Leader on Today's P&P List

Trial begins for Penn State Pres Spanier - Pennsylvania

Wichita Falls senior charged with CSA of 5 & 7 y/o - Texas

60 year sentence for Harlingen pedophile - Texas

Salvation Army sued for hiring known pedophile - So. Carolina

Vegas Christian group home leader charged with CSA - Nevada

130 sentence recommended for CSA victim's godfather - Missouri

Birmingham man charged with 1st degree sodomy - Alabama

Ex-Penn State president now on trial in Sandusky child sex abuse scandal

Prosecutors say Spanier's failures after hearing Sandusky

to continue to abuse boys

The Associated Press 

Former Penn State president Graham Spanier walks to the Dauphin County Courthouse in Harrisburg, Pa., on Monday. Spanier faces charges that he failed to report suspected child sex abuse in the last remaining criminal case in the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)

Prosecutors preparing to lay out their case against Penn State's former president say two of his ex-top lieutenants are among those who could take the stand.

Opening statements are scheduled to get underway Tuesday in the long-delayed criminal trial, in which Graham Spanier faces charges of child endangerment and conspiracy for how he handled child sex abuse complaints about Jerry Sandusky more than 15 years ago.

The two sides will make their openings after four alternates are chosen for the jury. On Monday, seven women and five men were chosen for the main jury panel after questioning of prospective jurors was done in secret.

The attorney general's office's witness list includes two former Penn State officials who took plea deals last week – former vice president Gary Schultz and former athletic director Tim Curley.

It also includes a former Penn State lawyer, the onetime head of a charity for children founded by Sandusky, police and someone described only as "a confidential witness." Another potential witness is Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant coach who reported seeing Sandusky shower with a boy in 2001.

The trial is expected to last about a week.

Spanier was forced out shortly after Sandusky, a longtime assistant football coach, was charged with child molestation in 2011.

Spanier, 68, faces felony charges. Schultz and Curley had faced identical charges before they pleaded guilty last week to a single misdemeanour count of child endangerment, and await sentencing.

The charges stem from their handling of the 2001 report from McQueary that Sandusky had apparently molested a boy in a team shower. Prosecutors say their failure to report that to authorities allowed Sandusky to continue to abuse boys and also endangered others.

Spanier has said that Curley and Schultz characterized the incident in the shower as horseplay and not any form of child abuse. He denies any wrongdoing. Sandusky was convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing 10 boys and is serving 30 to 60 years in prison. He insists he's innocent.

Perez faces new child sexual abuse charge

Patrick Johnston , Times Record News 

A Wichita Falls man set to begin his trial next month on six counts of child sexual abuse is facing an additional charge.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin April 10 for Antonio Parra Perez, 68, in the 89th District Court. He now is indicted on four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and three counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact in connection with two victims, ages 5 and 7.

Perez was arrested Monday evening by Wichita Falls police on a felony county warrant for a sealed indictment on the fourth count of child sexual assault, which was added by a re-indictment of the case last week by a grand jury.

According to court documents:

On June 5, 2014, detectives with the WFPD were contacted by Child Protective Services about possible sexual abuse by Perez on two children in his home.

During a forensic interview at Patsy's House, a 5-year-old girl said Perez would take her downstairs at his residence and touch her inappropriately and perform other sexual acts. A 7-year-old girl said Perez would take her to his downstairs bedroom or computer room, lock the door and perform sexual acts with her.

The investigators said both victims gave several specific details of different acts of sexual abuse they wouldn't know about at that age if they hadn't experienced them.

No information was available Tuesday afternoon about the new count of aggravated sexual assault.

Harlingen Man Sentenced in

Child Sexual Abuse Case

HARLINGEN - A 27-year-old Harlingen man will spend more than half a century in prison for sexually abusing a child.

Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz said the Rio Grande Valley Child Exploitation Investigations Task Force caught Kevin Kaster downloading child pornography.

During the investigation, detectives also uncovered the abuse of a child.

Kaster was convicted and sentenced to 60 years for continuous sexual abuse of a child and 20 years for indecency with a child with sexual contact.

He will not be eligible for parole and will have to serve every day of his sentence. 

Well, I think he can abandon plans for a post-prison career. That should keep a few children safe.

Salvation Army accused of hiring a

known sexual predator

Attorneys in Charleston, S.C. have filed two separate lawsuits on behalf of unnamed plaintiffs alleging that the local Salvation Army knowingly hired a sexual predator who proceeded to abuse them.

According to the suit, filed in Charleston County court by the firm of attorney Mullins McLeod, the two Jane Does were “repeatedly sexually assaulted over the course of approximately five years starting at the age of four years old while attending Sunday school and childcare at The Salvation Army’s (highway) 61 location in Charleston, South Carolina.”

According to McLeod’s firm, the charitable organization hired confessed child sex abuser Armando Gonzalez despite him allegedly having “a documented criminal history of sexually assaulting and abusing minor children.”

Such a hiring would be in violation of state law.

“No childcare facility may employ a person, engage the services of, or knowingly allow a person in the childcare facility during normal hours of operation, who is required to register under the sex offender registry act,” states the S.C. Code of Laws (§ 63-13-1010).

“My firm has spent over a year researching this billion-dollar organization in preparation to file this lawsuit,” McLeod said in a statement announcing the action. “We believe we will prove the organization and its officers’ conduct is very different than what they portray to the public.”

In fact, McLeod claims the Salvation Army has “a long, checkered past of sexual abuse within its ranks.”

As does virtually every large organization where children are cared for. This is why a Congressional Inquiry is long overdue! Where children are gathered, there you will find perverts and pedophiles.

According to a statement released by the Salvation Army of Charleston, the organization took immediate action when it was first informed of the allegations – and continues to “refine” its safety practices.

“Upon hearing the report, the Salvation Army corps officer immediately contacted law enforcement and encouraged the family to seek medical attention at the local hospital,” the organization said in a statement.  “In addition, The Salvation Army immediately banned the accused church member and family from Salvation Army properties and programs pending the outcome of the police investigation.  The Salvation Army fully cooperated with law enforcement as they investigated the matter.”

The organization further stated that Gonzalez was “a member of The Salvation Army church but was never employed by The Salvation Army nor did he serve as a Sunday School teacher.”

Former Las Vegas foster parent faces charges

of child sexual abuse

By RACHEL HERSHKOVITZ

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

A former Christian mentorship group leader is suspected of sexually abusing a foster child in his care, Las Vegas police said.

Grant William Claycomb, 51, faces four counts of molestation and one charge of sexual assault of a child younger than 14, the Metropolitan Police Department said.

According to police arrest reports, the abuse occurred from June to November 2015. Claycomb denied the allegations, the report said, but declined to take a polygraph test.

The report said Claycomb has fostered about 60 children in his home over several years. How many years was not specified.

Both Claycomb and his wife lost their licenses as foster parents in November 2015, Clark County spokesman Dan Kulin said.

Claycomb has been booked at Clark County Detention Center, where he is being held without bail. The Las Vegas church affiliated with the Royal Rangers, an international organization committed to Christian mentorship, has suspended Claycomb from working as a leader, the arrest report said. Metro redacted the church’s name and location.

KC man convicted of child sex abuse should get 130 years, Clay County jury says

BY GLENN E. RICE

A Clay County jury has recommended that a man convicted of first-degree sodomy and child molestation be sentenced to 130 years in prison.

Jurors convicted Alfredo Campos-Larios, 55, of Kansas City following the criminal trial held last week in Clay County Circuit Court.

The criminal charges stemmed from incidents that happened between July 17, 2013, and Sept. 7, 2014, and involved a child younger than 14 years old.

The case was among dozens handled by the Kansas City Police Crimes Against Children Unit. An internal review found that the unit had “severely mishandled” 150 criminal cases involving child sex abuse, rape and molestation.

That prompted the Police Department to launch a wide-ranging internal review that resulted in the suspension of seven of the unit’s eight detectives tasked with investigating child sex abuse. Those detectives were later reassigned to the department’s patrol division.

The internal review has not been completed.

Clay County prosecutors said Campos-Larios was a longtime friend of the child’s family and was considered to be the child’s “godfather.” Campos-Larios used the trust he gained with the family over a 25-year period to gain access to the child and commit the sex crimes, prosecutors said.

The personnel records of the detectives who investigated the Campos-Larios case were sealed.

Campos-Larios is scheduled to be sentenced on May 5, according to court records.

Man indicted on child sex charges in Shelby County

By Carol Robinson AL.com

A Birmingham man arrested last year has now been indicted on felony child sex abuse charges.

A Shelby County grand jury issued the three count indictment against 36-year-old Shane Edwin Gable earlier this month, but those records weren't made public until Tuesday. Gable was arrested last summer and has been jailed since Aug. 2016 with bonds totaling $270,000.

He is charged with one count of sexual contact with a child under the age of 12 and two counts of first-degree sodomy. According to court records, the sexual contact happened on May 1, 2016 and Aug. 17, 2016.

The first-degree sodomy charges stem from "deviate sexual intercourse" that happened between May 2016 and July 2016, the records claim.

No trial date has yet been set.

2 Former Salvation Army Officers Charged with Child Sex Abuse Offences at Boys' Homes

    Boys at SA Bexley Home, Sydney

Two former Salvation Army officers have been charged with child sex abuse at boys' homes in New South Wales, allegedly committed in the 1960s and 1970s.

The allegations, concerning homes at Goulburn and Bexley, were raised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

A 74-year-old man was arrested at a property at Waterloo in inner Sydney yesterday morning.

He was charged with 23 counts of indecent assault on a male, two counts of buggery, and procuring an indecent act with a male.

Police will allege the man assaulted children at boys' homes in Bexley and Goulburn between 1971 and 1974.

He is due to face Central Local Court today.

    Salvation Army Bexley Boys Home, Sydney

A second man, aged 77, was arrested on Wednesday at a home in Richmond in Sydney's west.

He was charged with two counts of indecent assault upon a male, seven counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and four counts of common assault.

It is alleged the man committed the offences in a Bexley boys' home between 1968 and 1974.

He was granted conditional bail to appear at Windsor Local Court in December.

The arrests were made by officers from Strike Force Lehmann, established to investigate allegations of sexual abuse at the homes.

    Goulburn, NSW

India - Priest Sentenced 40 Years for Child Rape

Clergyman was convicted of raping and sexually assaulting the girl at a

Salvation Army church in the southern state of Kerala in 2014

Gulf News, AFP

New Delhi: An Indian court has sentenced a Christian priest to 40 years in prison for repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl at the church where he worked, the prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Sanil K. James was convicted of raping and sexually assaulting the girl at a Salvation Army church in the southern state of Kerala in 2014.

The 37-year-old is also being investigated for the alleged rape of another girl during the same period.

“The court said the priest deserved the maximum punishment for this cruel act,” special prosecutor Pious Mathew said.

Prosecutors told the court James had raped the girl, now aged 13, several times inside the church complex over a period of two months.

The judge ordered that he should not get remission and also imposed a 20,000 rupee (Dh1,087 or $295) fine.

He was given two 20-year sentences, one under India’s stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences act and one under a separate section of the criminal law covering the rape of children.

Activist Smriti Minocha said the length of the term was highly unusual in a country where even those sentenced to life usually only serve 14 years.

“Courts normally award life sentences to rape convicts but sentencing him to 40 years is exceptional,” said Minocha, director of the women’s justice initiative at the Human Rights Law Network, a Delhi-based NGO.

Kerala, India

“Most of the cases of child sexual abuse remain undocumented, it’s only grave acts like rape and molestation which are reported.”

Child sexual abuse is common in homes, schools and residential care facilities across India and critics say the authorities have a poor record in bringing offenders to justice.

More than 18,000 children were sexually assaulted in 2014, according to India’s national crime records bureau.

A UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2014 said it was alarmed by widespread violence and sexual abuse of children in India.

It said one in three rape victims in India was a minor and half of the abusers were known to the child or in a position of trust and responsibility.

Salvation Army Boys' Homes to Come Under Royal Commission Spotlight Again

By Candice Marcus
ABC Australia

A victim of a notorious South Australian paedophile says the child abuse royal commission's hearings into the Salvation Army over the next fortnight will be an important step in many victims' journeys.

The Salvation Army's response to child sexual abuse will again come under scrutiny as hearings return to Adelaide, beginning today.

It is examining the experiences of former child residents of four boys' homes run by the Salvation Army in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia between 1940 and 1990.

Allegations of sexual abuse at the Eden Park Boys' Home in South Australia, the Box Hill Boys' Home in Victoria, Bayswater Boys' Home in Victoria and the Hollywood Children's Village (formerly known as the Salvation Army Boys' Home) at Nedlands in Western Australia will form the basis of the hearing.

The commission will hear about the Salvation Army's responses to the allegations and examine its current and past policies, practices and procedures for responding to claims of abuse.

The South Australian Supreme Court has previously heard horrific details about a regime of violence and abuse at the Eden Park Boys' Home at Wistow, near Mount Barker.

Candice Marcus @CandiceMarcus
Counsel assisting @CARoyalComm says evidence shows Salvos knew of sexual abuse at Eden Park Boys' Home as early as 1940s #RCSalvos

In 2009, former Salvation Army officer William John Keith Ellis was sentenced to 16 years' jail with a non-parole period of 12 years for 13 child sex offences against four victims between 1960 and 1971.

Justice Michael David condemned a culture of violence and cruel punishments against defenceless and vulnerable boys at the home, which he described as a "horrific place".

Ellis's trial was plagued by delays due to the elderly paedophile's medical episodes, which resulted in him being taken from the dock by an ambulance on two occasions, including when the guilty verdicts were delivered in April 2009 and Ellis screamed and collapsed.

One of the former residents who was sexually abused by Ellis at the Eden Park Boys' Home, Graham Rundle, said the hearing would be an important step.

"I think it's very important because at least now the truth is going to come out, it will be good for victims," he said.

 Candice Marcus @CandiceMarcus
.@CARoyalComm hears victim who reported sexual abuse to Salvo officer was punished by being placed in a fire escape for 3 nights

"I'm hoping obviously the truth will come out but that hopefully this time the southern division does something, because the eastern division did nothing, they fought it all the way."

Mr Rundle was finally given compensation from the Salvation Army after a long-fought civil case in the New South Wales Supreme Court, which ended in a confidential settlement in 2010.

But he said some victims, including those whose cases had not been tested in a criminal court, had not been given adequate compensation.

William John Keith Ellis leaving court by ambulance officers, April 2009

 "I think the redress has got to be done but it can't just be a one off and then get rid of you because a lot of these victims, you know, they need their teeth fixed, medical [treatment], you know psychological problems, somewhere to live, so they have to bring that into redress."

The Salvation Army's eastern territory operations have already been examined by the commission, which heard harrowing details and accounts from victims of sexual abuse in four boys' homes run by the charity organisation in New South Wales and Queensland.

In a report released in March the commission found that the Salvation Army did not protect young boys from being abused in the homes in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Many victims have told their stories in private hearings leading up to the commission's public sittings.

It is the second time the commission has held a public hearing in Adelaide.

In March 2014 the commission held its first public hearing in Adelaide to examine sexual abuse at St Ann's Special School in the 1980s and 90s.

In June, the commission released its findings into the case and identified a number of failings by the school, the police and the Catholic Church.

Royal Commission Interim Report Reveals Abuse Often Started at 9 or 10 Years of Age

It takes an average of 22 years for survivors of child abuse to come forward and many Australians who have been abused still haven’t spoken out, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse says. I bet if you removed those people who reported in the first year from the sample, that you would find the number to be much higher than 22 years.

In its interim report, released on Monday, the commission said on average female victims were nine years old and male victims 10 years old when the abuse started and that it takes men longer than women to disclose their abuse.

The commission, which began its inquiry into institutional abuse on 13 January 2013, said its analysis also showed 90 per cent of sex abusers are men.

'We understand that although many people have come forward to the Royal Commission, it is likely that they represent only a minority of those abused,’  the commission said.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
 has revealed its interim report. This pictures shows
Commissioner Justice Peter McClellan in Sydney

'Many others are yet to disclose their abuse or, for various reasons, feel unable to come forward at this time.’

On Monday, the commission which has already been running for 18 months, urged the federal government to give it more time and money to finish its job or risk squandering the opportunity and insulting the victims.

The commission said it needs another $104 million and an extra two years to do its job and reach more vulnerable groups.

Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive Francis Sullivan says the inquiry into institutional responses to child sex abuse must be given the time and resources it wants.

'To not finish the job properly and completely would be an insult to all the victims of abuse and one of the greatest lost opportunities of our generation,’ he said in a statement.

Brother Julian McDonald Deputy
Province Leader of Christian Brothers
 of Ociania (right) with Frances
Sullivan  (left) from the Truth and
Justice Healing Council.

'This is a once in a lifetime chance for the community to fully understand the devastation of child sexual abuse, its historic pervasion into so many different institutions and steps needed to ensure past tragedies are never revisited.’

Personally, I would really like to see this commission complete it's work, but then, I'm not paying for it, nor am I paying for searching the Indian Ocean for a plane wreck. But I appreciate your priorities, Australia. God bless you.

HOW INSTITUTIONS HAVE REACTED TO THE ROYAL COMMISSION
YMCA
Has promised to obtain software to centralise its recruitment, pre-employment screening and testing of policy knowledge and employee performance management
Engage an independent party to review its organisational culture
Review its policies to simplify and clarify them for staff
Review its parent handbook so that its child protection policies are explained better.
The Department of Education and Communities is reassessing whether YMCA NSW is a fit and proper person to be involved in the provision of an education and care service

SALVATION ARMY
Salvation Army Commissioner Raymond James Condon confirmed that the Army accepts that, in certain circumstances, it is vicariously liable for abuse in its boys and girls homes

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS
Christian Brothers deputy provincial leader Julian McDonald recognised the order has a responsibility to survivors of abuse.
Christian Brothers announced all survivors of its Western Australian institutions would be offered ongoing professional psychological counselling, for life, if needed.

Attorney-General George Brandis said the interim report made clear the enormous scale of the task being undertaken by the commission.

'It is important that those affected by child sexual abuse and the Australian community as a whole can learn from the commission's work so far,’ he said in a brief statement.

Attorney-General George Brandis

The federal government was considering the request for a two year extension of the royal commission's December 31, 2015 closing date to deliver its final report, it said.

The commission has said children can help design institutions that are safe for them as they have the knowledge and experience different to adults.

Research into the views of children about their safety from sexual abuse in institutions has thus been ordered.

The commission is yet to reach a view on a national redress scheme for survivors.

'We have not yet reached a view on a national scheme,’ the commission said.

Four Australian states have offered redress schemes for former residents of child institutions in Qld, WA, Tas and SA.

Incomplete data from the Catholic Church's National Committee for Professional Standards shows Church authorities have paid more than $43 million to claimants since 1997.

The commission is considering whether it is appropriate in principal to recommend a national scheme, if its possible to devise a scheme that's fair to both claimants and institutions and how that scheme might fit with existing redress schemes.

The Salvation Army is facing a slump in donations to its flagship fundraising drive
 after the inquiry's revelations of terrible sexual abuse of children in its care

Meanwhile, the Salvation Army is facing a slump in donations to its flagship fundraising drive after the inquiry’s revelations of terrible sexual abuse of children in its care.

Donations to the Red Shield Appeal Doorknock in May are down an estimated 20 per cent this year.

Spokesman Major Bruce Harmer said the evidence heard at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a key factor.

The church expects to fall 20 per cent or $2 million short of its $10 million target for the doorknock held on May 24 and 25.

It also expects to miss the $80 million target of the broader Red Shield Appeal, which includes corporate and other donations.

Salvation Army Enters Fund-raising Weekend in Australia with Some Big Problems

As it embarks on its annual fundraising weekend, one of the country’s oldest charities is facing a crisis over claims of child sexual abuse. The Salvation Army has at least one known paedophile in its ranks and allegations of at least one other. 

Up to 300* victims of sexual abuse have filed or re-filed claims against the Salvation Army, according to sources within the organisation.

The Salvation Army’s approach to dealing with compensation for victims came under intense scrutiny at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, where it was revealed that some victims were forced to sign confidentiality agreements in order to receive payments.

Major Cliff Randall, a Salvation Army officer who reported abuse in the 1970s while working at a boys’ home, told Background Briefing that the compensation process has been ad hoc.

‘New claims from people who have now felt they can come forward, or from people who have complained in the past, but now that the commission has come up and the army have said that a lot of them weren’t given the proper compensation way back, they can reapply and get a better deal,’ he said. ‘Why wasn’t it done in the first place?’

Majors Marina and Cliff Randall

According to Major Randall, his wife Marina is the only Salvation Army officer currently handling victim interviews. Now, just weeks after the Salvation Army’s last appearance at the Royal Commission, it has lost its two trained investigators, leaving it with no professional capacity to investigate claims.

One investigator is on indefinite stress leave, and the other had his contract discontinued by the Salvation Army before he could finish the cases he was investigating.

Those unfinished cases included an internal inquiry into a current Salvation Army major in his eighties who is alleged to have sexually abused two young women and a child, and a probe into the organisation’s handling of Major Colin Haggar, a known child sex abuser who was allowed to stay in the army.

One of his victims, a witness known as JI, wasn’t prepared to appear at the public Royal Commission hearings but told Background Briefing she was abused three times by Major Haggar.

‘I was sexually abused when I was eight,’ she said. ‘I remember freezing ... they say it’s just like shock, you just go into shock and meltdown.’        

Maj Haggar

‘The occasions were kind of like climbing stairs. The first one was minor, the second was a little bit more severe and the third one was the worst. That’s why I remember three different occasions. Because once they’d happened I left the room straight away.’

JI doesn’t remember primary school and didn’t finish high school.

Major Haggar was dismissed by the Salvation Army for three years, but was still provided with a job and accommodation. That should teach him! Good Grief!

In 1993 he was re-accepted as a captain and rose through the ranks, obtaining a Working With Children check with the army’s support. Last year he was the assistant director of a Salvation Army women’s and children’s shelter.

For Major Cliff Randall, the revelations about the army’s handling of child sex abuse have been too much. The chaplain will not be door knocking for the Red Shield Appeal this year.

‘As far as the Red Shield is concerned, I’m taking a backwards step this year,’ he said. ‘I just don’t feel I can face up to going doorknocking. Unfortunately I have lost a lot of faith in the leadership. At the moment the leadership have got to prove to me that yes they’re prepared to stand up and be counted.’      

The Salvation Army stresses that none of the money donated to the Red Shield Appeal goes to compensate victims abused by Salvation Army officers, but after two months has not provided documents to Background Briefing to support that claim.

*Editor's note: Background Briefing has since learned that the figure of ‘up to 300’ should refer to the total number of ‘live’ complaints lodged with the Salvation Army since mid last year. Sources within the Salvation Army have confirmed that the number of complaints lodged since the first Royal Commission hearings began is around 140. The Salvation Army disputes this, saying the number of complaints lodged since the first Royal Commission hearings in January is 29.

Wife of Child Molester Scolds Whistle Blower for Outing Her Husband

A senior Salvation Army officer, whose husband, also an officer, sexually assaulted a young girl, later sent an accusatory Facebook message to a whistleblower, the Australian royal commission into child-sex abuse has heard.

Lieutenant-Colonel Kerry Haggar denied she was trying to intimidate the whistleblower just weeks before the woman was due to give evidence at the commissions' public hearings into abuse within the Salvation Army.

LtCol Kerry Haggar

Colonel Haggar, formerly a member of the Salvation Army's senior cabinet, broke down while giving evidence before the royal commission on Monday.

She apologised for sending the message to Captain Michelle White, who had gone to the Office of the Children's Guardian and the Ombudsman in 2013 and reported that Colonel Haggar's husband, Colin Haggar, had assaulted a young girl in 1989.

"I'm incredibly sorry and I'd like to reiterate publicly to Michelle my apologies for sending that," Colonel Haggar said, after describing the message as "unwise".

Screenshot of Haggar
testifying at Commission

"It was - sorry. It was a very personal reaction out of my own distress."

The message was sent just two weeks before Captain White was due to give evidence before the commission.

It attacked Captain White for blowing the whistle about her husband's behaviour and the subsequent failure of the Salvation Army hierarchy to act.

"The chain of events you have set in place have caused devastation and considerable pain to many innocent people," Colonel Haggar said in the message.

Colin Haggar assaulted the girl on at least one occasion but has never been charged and was stood down only last month after the royal commission's hearings had begun.

The commission has previously heard that, after the abuse, Haggar admitted it to the girl's mother.

Colin Haggar claims that he then confessed the assault to the police some years later and that he was told by officers that nothing could be done.

However, the state of NSW, which is represented at the commission, denies such a confession was ever made.

On Monday, the chairman of the royal commission, Justice Peter McClellan, put it to Kerry Haggar that the message she sent to Captain White was "very serious", alluding to the fact that attempting to intimidate a witness at the royal commission was a criminal offence.

Colonel Haggar denied she was attempting to intimidate her colleague.

"I didn't at the time, but only since when Michelle gave evidence at the royal commission, I realised that it could be viewed as intimidatory and potentially a criminal offence," she said.

"I wasn't aware of that at the time. "There was no intention to intimidate."

Colonel Haggar told the commission that she had been stood down from her role as the head of business administration for the Salvation Army and had been told that she would not be returning to that role.

The hearing continues.

Unbelievable Admissions by Salvation Army Commissioner re: Child Sex Abuser

Salvos commissioner says it's no longer publicly acceptable to have a confessed sex offender in active ministry.

OMG! The Commissioner of the Salvation Army for two Australian states had no problem with employing child sex offenders until he determined that the public didn't want child sex offenders in the ministry.

That is hardly believable! Did he not, at any time, ask God whether He wanted child sex offenders in His ministry? I'm absolutely bewildered how people can be in charge of Christian ministries and have no fear of, or communication with God. Wow!

Did he not, at any time, have any concern for the welfare of the children the pedophile was responsible for? I seriously think Condon should consider resigning.

The following is an ABC Australia radio interview by host Eleanor Hall and reporter Sarah Dingle covering the Royal Commission on Child Sex Abuse.

ELEANOR HALL: To the child abuse Royal Commission now, and the head of the Salvation Army in New South Wales and Queensland told the inquiry that he kept a known child sex offender employed at the charity until last October.

Salvation Army commissioner James Condon also says he didn't think he had an obligation to report that to authorities until last December.

Eleanor Hall

Our reporter Sarah Dingle has been covering the hearings and she joins us now.

Sarah, how did this Salvation Army leader come to make these extraordinary admissions today?

SARAH DINGLE: Well, Eleanor, this particular child sex offender, Colin Haggar, admitted to sexually abusing an eight-year-old girl in 1989. He was never charged, and we've also heard that since last May further child sex abuse allegations against him have come to light.

Today, commissioner James Condon said since May commissioner Condon had been talking to senior personnel about this matter with Colin Haggar - specifically, whether the Salvation Army had an obligation to report Colin Haggar to the authorities.

Until last year, Colin Haggar was the assistant director of a women's and children's shelter.

The Salvation Army didn't report Colin Haggar, but in September an officer captain Michelle White took it upon herself to notify the New South Wales Ombudsman.

SA Major Colin Haggar

By October the Ombudsman was investigating, and that month commissioner James Condon involuntarily retired Colin Haggar.

In December, commissioner Condon had a meeting with the Deputy Ombudsman Steve Kinmond. According to file notes of that meeting, Mr Kinmond said the Salvation Army did have an obligation to notify authorities about Colin Haggar.

But commissioner James Condon claims another Ombudsman investigator at the meeting still said they didn't have to.

JAMES CONDON: I… I, as I said to you and to the Commission the whole matter was so drawn out, and the scenario, with all sorts of different advice being given, and I can remember, Mr Beckett, very clearly that Ruth… is it Ruth Bard… was at odds with Mr Kinmond. That's what I remember in the meeting.

My assessment of that meeting was that she wasn't in agreement with him. So you chose to error on the side of reckless endangerment of children?

SARAH DINGLE: That's commissioner James Condon.

Documents show Deputy Ombudsman Steve Kinmond continued to investigate the matter, asking detailed questions about Colin Haggar and the Salvation Army until last month. Commissioner Condon says he wasn't aware of any of those letters at the time; he'd only become aware of them in the last few days and weeks because they were tendered to the Royal Commission.

SA Commissioner Condon

ELEANOR HALL: And Sarah, did this commissioner James Condon explain why he eventually did remove this child sex offender from active service, especially working with women and children?

SARAH DINGLE: Well, the Commissioner says he only acted because he believes, in the last few years, public attitudes towards having a confessed child sex offender in active ministry had changed.

We know that the Salvation Army introduced a 'minute' in 2007 - a policy stating no convicted or cautioned sex offender could work with children. But commissioner James Condon says that policy wasn't retrospective, so it didn't apply to Colin Haggar. What? Are you serious? I want to scream!!!

Today commisioner Condon said he decided to involuntarily retire Colin Haggar last year - not because that policy had become retrospective - but because he was trying to keep in line with public attitudes.

MICHAEL CONDON: The way things had changed since 2007, in terms of perception, et cetera, about a clergyman - in this case a Salvation Army officer - known sex offender continuing to minister as a Salvation Army Officer…

SIMEON BECKETT: So it's more appropriate that it have retrospective effect?

MICHAEL CONDON: Minutes are not retrospective, I stated that yesterday. But the point I'm highlighting is: perceptions had changed, that's… yeah.

ELEANOR HALL: And that's the Salvation Army commissioner James Condon, speaking to counsel assisting Simeon Beckett at the Royal Commission, and our reporter covering the sex abuse Royal Commission is Sarah Dingle.