Townsville Bulletin

Car salesman charged

MAN ACCUSED OF SEX ACTS ON CHURCH BOY

- SHAYLA BULLOCH

A TOWNSVILLE Catholic Church identity has been charged with child sex offences after allegedly abusing a teenage boy for more than a year.

John Starmer, 65, has been charged with six counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 years old and one count of stalking, allegedly against a 15-year-old boy he met at church.

Police will allege Starmer, a car salesman, met the boy and his family about 18 months ago through his role as a “welcomer” at church.

Starmer then allegedly befriended the family, and used the new relationsh­ip outside of church to sexually abuse the boy multiple times at his family home and in public spaces over the next yearand-a-half. The boy was 14 years old when police allege the offending began, which included inappropri­ate sexual touching and behaviour.

Police will allege the boy told Starmer to stay away, but he ignored the teen’s pleas and stalked him.

The boy eventually told his mother about what was happening and she reported Starmer’s alleged actions to the Catholic Diocese at the start of September.

Diocesan Safeguardi­ng coordinato­r Craig Brereton reported it to police immediatel­y and “supported the family to make a formal statement”.

Townsville Child Protection and Investigat­ion Unit swooped on Starmer and charged him a few days later.

Officer-in-charge Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Miles said these kinds of alleged offenders could be anywhere in the community.

“We would encourage any individual who has been a victim of this sort of offending to contact police or any other entity they are comfortabl­e talking to,” Sergeant Miles said.

“Any (alleged) offence like this is shocking in nature when it’s against a child. In the community it is considered abhorrent and I think anyone that hears about these allegation­s will be somewhat shocked by them.”

Starmer has been a wellknown car salesman at a reputable Townsville dealership for more than 30 years and a part of the diocese for many years.

Sergeant Miles said Townsville Catholic Diocese assisted in “every aspect of the investigat­ion”.

In a statement, the Diocese of Townsville said Starmer regularly attended mass at several parishes across the city, but was not involved in any ministry directly working with children.

His volunteer roles working with adults have been suspended, but as a Catholic, Starmer may still attend mass.

Townsville Bishop Tim Harris said the Diocese has stringent procedures in place for dealing with complaints about alleged abuse.

“The Catholic Diocese of Townsville commits to a zerotolera­nce approach to any forms of abuse and reflects this commitment in our procedures,” Bishop Harris said.

“This includes immediatel­y responding to complaints about any form of abuse of children and vulnerable adults and reporting such abuse to authoritie­s.”

Members of the parish are now trained on laws which makes it a criminal offence for an adult to not report a claim of sexual abuse.

The Diocese has offered support to the boy and his family.

Starmer will face court for the first time on Tuesday.

 ?? John Starmer. ??
John Starmer.

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