What the DEC and Police did about Russell school sex allegations

An email between Lyn Duncan and a member of Bathurst SEA staff shows what was done regarding the allegation that Jeremy Russell had sex with Melissa Harris at Carenne. In the email, Duncan outlined what had been done since the allegation surfaced.

The email is consistent with the chat transcript leaked by Anonymous to their blog.

Frighteningly, the email shows that Carenne were aware of the allegations the day after the incident is alleged to have occurred, however in contravention of child protection policies, it was not reported to EPAC by the person receiving the complaint (Terry Neal) or Duncan herself. Only when a whistleblower at the school contacted Gary Bevan did EPAC become aware of the very serious allegations.

The email indicates that there was an allegation that the student was offered a bribe if she said that she was raped by a student and not by Jeremy Russell and that Duncan had been managing the issue of inappropriate messages between Russell and the student.

The incident and subsequent events were investigated by Constable Haertsch and Senior Constable Rasmussen who after interviewing only Lyn Duncan decided that nothing had happened. Duncan then contacted Detective Fred Hennessy who gave her the email address of the whistleblower who made the complaint to EPAC, once again showing the complete disregard for confidentiality in the local Police.

Once again, Carenne failed to follow proper protocol and procedure. Duncan should have reported the allegation to EPAC as soon as it became aware of it, but instead chose to deal with a serious sexual allegation locally in order to cover it up.