Fed: Police may report next week on Woomera probe: Ruddock

AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-2000
Fed: Police may report next week on Woomera probe: Ruddock

A South Australian police inquiry into child-sex abuse claims concerning a 12-year-old
boy at the Woomera detention centre could report early next week.

SA police and the state's Department of Family and Children's Services has found --
after investigating child-sex allegations against the boy's father -- that there's no
evidence to sustain the claims.

Immigration Minister PHILIP RUDDOCK says the allegations at the centre of the case
are that the father of a 12-year-old boy sold him for sex so he could buy cigarettes.

Mr RUDDOCK says the claims centred on assumptions from a nurse who reported seeing
the boy leave a toilet block holding his bottom.

South Australian police couldn't immediately comment on when the outcome of their investigation
will be made public.

A separate, federal government inquiry, headed by former Foreign Affairs and Trade
Department secretary PHILIP FLOOD, is being held into procedures regarding abuse allegations
at detention centres.

AAP RTV sd/et/alt/hn/

KEYWORD: WOOMERA (PERTH)

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