<p>
	74-year-old sent home despite Victoria police wanting to charge him over new allegations</p>
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	A convicted child abuser has been returned to Ireland after his Australian visa was cancelled, despite police in the state of Victoria wanting to charge him with abusing students at Geelong Grammar Anglican school between the late 1960s and 1980.</p>
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	The 74-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been convicted of child abuse offences on four separate occasions.</p>
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	He is an Irish citizen, but had never taken up Australian citizenship. Because of this, he was subject to a law change introduced in late 2014, whereby non-Australian citizens convicted of child abuse or jailed for a crime that carries a sentence of 12 months or more are deported to their home country.</p>
<p>
	Several Irish people have been deported or are awaiting deportation from Australia under this law.</p>
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	When the former teacher was released from Wolston Correctional Centre in Queensland on May 6th, security personnel met him and escorted him onto a flight to Ireland.</p>
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	Alleged victims fear it could be years before the man faces court due to the extradition process, or if he is deemed mentally or physically unfit to travel to Australia for a trial.</p>
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	They are also concerned about the man having contact with children in Ireland.</p>
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	Australia&rsquo;s Border Force agency has defended its role in deporting the man to Ireland despite him being investigated by police.</p>
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	&ldquo;The individual was not listed as having any outstanding matters with any law enforcement agencies and was subsequently removed,&rdquo; a department spokesman said in a statement.</p>
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	The department said it had checked relevant databases before sending him to Ireland.</p>
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	It was the responsibility of law enforcement agencies to request a criminal justice stay certificate if they intended to pursue criminal charges for non-citizens, the spokesman said.</p>
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	A man who told the royal commission he had been abused by the man when he was aged nine told Melbourne&rsquo;s Age newspaper he was not told of the man&rsquo;s deportation until four months after he had left the country.</p>
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	&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve obviously been waiting a long time for this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a lot more difficult to extradite him from Ireland.&rdquo;</p>
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	A Victorian police spokeswoman said the criminal investigation was continuing.</p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
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	(Published by the Irish Times on the 30th September 2016)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/convicted-child-abuser-returned-to-ireland-from-australia-1.2811826">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/convicted-child-abuser-returned-to-ireland-from-australia-1.2811826</a></p>
