NSW Police are investigating new leads after Attorney General Mark Speakman sought a review of a 2013 decision not to prosecute one of the state's most senior Catholic educators for concealing child sex crimes.
Sutherland Acting Inspector Belinda Abdy confirmed police were taking a fresh look at allegations against former NSW Catholic Schools Commission member and Christian Brother Anthony Whelan, 78, after the Director of Public Prosecutions reviewed the 2013 decision at Mr Speakman's request and referred it back to police.
The DPP advised police in 2013 that charging Brother Whelan was "not in the public interest", despite noting "there would appear to be a prima facie case" over his handling of allegations against teacher Thomas Keady in the 1970s.
The DPP decision devastated Hunter man Rob Roseworne whose complaint in 2010 of being sexually abused by Keady initiated a Catholic Church investigation. It found Brother Whelan, as school principal, sacked Keady from St Patricks College, Sutherland in 1979, but took no further action after four boys alleged "sexual misconduct" during a school excursion.
"Police have received further avenues of enquiry which will be investigated and forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for a legal advising in regards to formally pursuing the matter through the courts," Acting Inspector Abdy said.
Mr Roseworne said he was overwhelmed by the news.
"It's been more than eight years seeking justice," he said.
"If it's taught me nothing else it's taught me resilience."
Mr Speakman wrote to the DPP in June, 2018 asking him to consider matters raised by Mr Roseworne, including new lines of inquiry following the conviction in 2016 of another Christian Brother and teacher at the school, Brother John Roberts, for offences in the 1970s.
It followed a letter from Liberal MP Catherine Cusack in support of Mr Roseworne's review request.
"I would ask you to take an active interest in past decisions of the DPP where it was determined 'not in the public interest' to prosecute. In the wake of the Royal Commission, a far more enlightened and anguished public would want these cases revisited, reviewed and wherever possible prosecuted," Ms Cusack wrote.
A professional standards investigation by former NSW police assistant commissioner, Norm Maroney, found Brother Whelan did not inform police of child sex allegations made by four students against Keady in 1979 and he did not advise the students' parents.
"He advised each student to inform his parents of the assaults," Mr Maroney found.
In a recorded statement for the church investigation Brother Whelan said he sacked Keady on the advice of the Catholic Education Office.
Keady was later convicted of further child sex crimes in the Hunter area in 1994 and died in 2012.
Mr Roseworne received a settlement from the Christian Brothers after Mr Maroney found he was abused by Keady and reported the abuse to another St Patricks College teacher, Brother John (Chris) Roberts, in 1977 when he was 11. Roberts was jailed in 2016 for child sex offences.
Brother Whelan denied Mr Roseworne's allegation that he also reported the Keady abuse to him.
In its advising to police in 2013 the DPP said the prosecution of Brother Whelan for misprision of felony - concealing a serious crime - was not in the public interest because of the "relatively low level of criminality against Whelan; his lack of antecedents [lack of criminal history]; the absence of any issue of specific deterrence; the staleness of the alleged offences and the likelihood that a conviction would result in, at best, a negligible penalty".
In its Criminal Justice Report released in 2017 the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse said it had "not particularly anticipated finding significant problems in decision-making processes" within Australian DPP offices, but investigations "revealed such problems".
It recommended "robust and effective" internal audit processes after finding some DPP decisions failed to comply with decision-making policies. It stopped short of recommending judicial reviews of DPP decisions after noting such reviews were not favoured by the High Court or DPPs.
"We remain of the view that the absence of judicial review leaves a gap capable of causing real injustice if a prosecutor makes a decision not to prosecute, or to discontinue a prosecution, without complying with the relevant prosecution guidelines and policies and the affected victim is left with no opportunity to seek judicial review," the royal commission said.
A spokesperson for the Christian Brothers said there would be no comment.
In 2018 the NSW Government legislated new offences of failure to report and failure to protect against child abuse as part of a comprehensive package of criminal justice reforms in response to the royal commission.
Mr Roseworne urged people with information that could assist the inquiry to contact Sutherland Local Area Command.
"I understand the reasons why people have chosen not to speak about these matters over many years, but times have changed," Mr Roseworne said.