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When youth group leader Matthew Briggs took his own life, the death of the dedicated church member rocked the tight-knit community.
Briggs had arrived in a small country town from Sydney, and over eight years became instrumental in running youth groups for a church, coaching girls’ sports, working as an usher at a cinema and hosting sleepovers for children from the church.
Now a member of the flock has turned whistleblower, alleging Briggs was under investigation as a paedophile, that the church covered it up and that government agency the Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) failed in its duty to protect children.
The explosive allegations, which have divided families and congregations at a church that cannot be named for legal reasons, will be aired for the first time under parliamentary privilege by NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson on Thursday.
Congregant Phil Bear said he learnt months later from the church pastor that Briggs had taken his own life just as NSW Police received a report he had sexually abused a child. Briggs’ death meant no criminal investigation could take place.
Bear urged the church to warn families about the allegations against Briggs. Instead, he said a silence fell over the church, with only a handful of the 500 members told.
Bear also hired lawyer PJ O’Brien, and the pair escalated their concerns to the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC), which oversaw his church, and to the Office of the Children’s Guardian.
Bear and O’Brien’s complaint to the OCG went unanswered for months before it was dismissed. O’Brien said the investigator told him the complaint wasn’t within the office’s remit.
Higginson said the office’s dismissal was shocking: “This is the independent office that was established explicitly to protect children.
Cotton spoke out against clergy abusers at the royal commission into institutionalised child abuse and advocated for stronger laws and penalties for those who conceal child abuse.
He said he wasn’t surprised by Bear’s claims, saying “the mice are still in charge of the cheese”, and called on the OCG to explain why it failed to pursue the allegations.
Source: Church leader Matthew Briggs killed himself after child abuse claims, says whistleblower Phil Bear