POLICE investigating the suicides of clergy sex abuse victims as part of Operation Plangere did not contact local survivors of part of the process.
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This is despite many openly saying huge numbers of their classmates had taken their on lives as a result of the horrific crimes.
The findings of the investigation were only made public in May as part of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse, despite being completed in 2012.
The findings of the secretive police report focused on the cases of the 43 men believed to have committed suicide as a result of clergy sex abuse between 2001 and 2011.
The investigation looked into the work of Ballarat Detective Sergeant Kevin Carson who had gathered data about the 43 men as part of his decade long investigation into clergy sex abuse.
However, the report claims that only 25 of the 43 Carson had discussed could be positively identified and of those only 16 were able to be categorised as having committed suicide.
Sexual abuse survivors spokesman Andrew Collins said it had been discussed among survivors at meetings that they had not been contacted as part of the investigation.
Given the police findings made it clear they had been unable to identify some of the 43, Mr Collins said survivors didn’t understand why they hadn’t been contacted as part of the investigation.
He said survivors were considering lodging complaints over the investigation.
“We were very disappointed because it minimalised and trivialised that we have so many more premature death victims than the rest of the community,” he said.
Mr Collins also said it was important to remember the suicides were not just historical with the incidents still occurring.
“If you put this in context of a redress scheme, it’s more likely the victims will take their lives and end their lives prematurely (unless they get the support),” he said.
Australian Catholic Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council's chief executive Francis Sullivan said it was important the focus for the Royal Commission remained on validating the survivors experiences which had been shared at hearings.
“You would be a mug to think that childhood sex abuse wouldn’t be a contributing factor to suicide in some cases,” he said. “In a way that is a separate issue to how this report has been put together and interpreted.”
