Authorities are notifying the families of 64 alleged victims of an accused Queensland paedophile after their identities were mistakenly made available to journalists.
State attorney-general Yvette D’Ath apologised for the “breach of victims’ privacy” on Friday morning and announced an inquiry into the error.
“I am deeply disturbed this occurred and have asked my acting director-general to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation,” she said.
“Victims rightly deserve to know their personal information is safe.”
A 45-year-old male childcare worker was in July charged with 1,623 offences involving 91 children in Australia and overseas, including 64 in Brisbane.
All his Queensland matters were heard for the first time in the Brisbane magistrates court on 21 August.
Queensland childcare worker allegedly abused seven girls in a month, court documents revealRead more
A week later, documents filed with the court were made available to several media outlets, following standard procedures.
As the Guardian revealed exclusively on Friday morning, the names of 64 alleged victims had not been redacted from charge sheets, as would usually occur.
Guardian Australia, which was one of the outlets which inspected the documents, has not retained any identifying information contained in the charge sheets and has no intention of contacting victims based on the information.
It’s illegal to publish the names of child sexual assault victims, or otherwise to identify them in a story.
However, no law prevents media companies from potentially approaching the families based on the information mistakenly shown to journalists.
In August the NSW police assistant commissioner Michael Fitzgerald said authorities would be relying on physical evidence against the accused man, avoiding the need to re-traumatise victims.
“One of the things that I am pleased about in regards to this investigation is that we will not be calling on any of those 23 [NSW] victims to give evidence,” he said.
Guardian Australia understands it would normally be the court’s responsibility to redact the victims’ names.
The Queensland attorney general said four journalists were granted access to the court file.
“I know these media outlets will not identify the victims, but this should simply not have occurred,” D’Ath said.
“I am advised media outlets viewed the file but were not allowed to make copies or take photos.
skip past newsletter promotion
after newsletter promotion
“Measures have been put in place to ensure it does not happen again.”
Asked how the incident occurred, a spokesperson for Australian federal police directed questions to the Brisbane magistrates court.
“This is a sensitive time for many families and the AFP will not be providing a running commentary,” the spokesperson said.
On Thursday, Kristina Deveson, the executive director of magistrates court Services in Queensland, wrote to media outlets to remind them of their responsibilities.
“While access to view the…
2023-09-07 15:18:18
Link from www.theguardian.com