Man faces 19 boys’ home charges
A MAN allegedly linked to a boys’ home pedophile ring that terrorised vulnerable children at a Western Sydney school has been brought before the courts – and police are circling dozens of other alleged offenders.
The 67-year-old Queensland man allegedly molested boys in the 1970s at the nowdefunct Daruk Training School at Berkshire Park, but AAP understands he was not a member of staff.
The school was tasked with taking care of young offenders and troubled teens but detectives found 80 of the boys, mostly aged 10 to 14, endured “significant sexual abuse”.
Police are urging others who lived in Daruk during 1965–85 to come forward.
“The number that have come forward have described their accounts as what can only be considered horrific experiences,” Detective Superintendent Brett McFadden told reporters in Sydney yesterday.
So far, about 25 staff members or people linked to the school have been identified as persons of interest, although some of them are dead.
The man faced Penrith Local Court on March 2 on 19 past charges including assault and buggery on boys aged 12 and 13 in the late 1970s.
He was granted bail but NSW Police will challenge that ruling in court tomorrow.
Further arrests are considered “imminent”, police say.