Six teens lured to crew boats from their impoverished villages repeatedly told officials they were children – 12 years on, a court has finally believed them
Six children jailed as adults for acting as crew on people-smuggling boats have had their convictions quashed. But Australian authorities had been told before they were jailed of doubts about the wrist X-ray technique used to prove they were over 18
The Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia. / Nickbenanh via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).Melbourne, Australia, Jan 21, 2022 / 07:00 am (CNA).In a ruling believed to be the first of its kind in Australia, a judge has found a Catholic diocese vicariously liable for clerical abuse.A judgment issued on Dec. 22 by Justice John Forrest in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne held that the Diocese of Ballarat was vicariously liable for the conduct of Father Bryan Coffey.The Legal Information Institute defines vicarious liability as the liability that a supervisory party bears for the actionable conduct of a subordinate or associate, based on the relationship between the two parties. Coffey, who was convicted of child abuse in 1999 and given a three-year suspended sentence, died in 2013.Justice Forrest awarded a man identified only as "DP" damages of AU$ 230,000 (around $165,000).DP said that he was sexually abused by Coffey at his parents home in Port Fairy, southwestern Victoria,
The Catholic Diocese of Ballarat was "vicariously liable" for a priest Father Bryan Coffey's abuse of a five-year-old boy in 1971, the Supreme Court of Victoria in Australia has ruled. The landmark ruling that could impact future abuse cases.