Child Protective Services, the Weapon of Choice.

At the time of writing, Twitter and Facebook in Ireland are in meltdown over a story of a Police Sergeant who was wrongly accused of sexual abuse of children, including his own. I’m sure people in Ireland are very familiar with the case of Sgt. Maurice McCabe, but I will tell the story for people who know nothing about the case as there are readers of this page all over the world. 

The case is a prime example of how Child Protective Services have become the ultimate weapon to destroy people. There is no more serious allegation than to be accused of sexually assaulting a child. 

Sgt McCabe was a whistleblower who raised concern within the Irish Police Force, An Garda Síochána, about Penalty Points and Speeding Tickets being wiped off the system and canceled by senior members of the Force.  It is interesting to note, that out of nearly 16,000 Police Officers in Ireland, that only 2 members spoke out against this practice.

Ireland is a corrupt country and the most corrupt organization in Ireland is our Child “Protection” Service, the Child & Family Agency known as Tusla. The extent of the corruption cannot even be made public, because, under the law, a person could be jailed for saying “Anything to Anyone” of what occurred in a Secret Court. While this singular case has raised the ire of many people, the Irish Public have absolutely no idea of how corrupt the CFA has become. 

The gist of what happened Sgt McCabe, is that as his whistleblowing occurred, he was increasingly put under more pressure and was being targeted for his whistleblowing activity by senior members of the force. Allegations of sexually assault of a daughter of one of his colleagues, whom Sgt McCabe had accused earlier, emerged but were found to be without foundation. Later, the Commissioner and the Press Officer “Leaked” information of the alleged sexual assault to discredit Sgt McCabe. 

Later on, Sgt McCabe was contacted by a social worker from Tusla who had “concerns” for his 5 children. At this point, the Sergeant had spent years being targeted for his whistleblowing, but this was by far the most underhanded accusation yet, that he may have assaulted his own children. The earlier accusation of brushing against a 6 year old girl, was “Upgraded” to Rape, Penetration both vaginal and anal. 

The matter was investigated and was supposedly put down as a series of “Cut & Paste” errors, however, some important questions were never asked at the Charleton Tribunal, which was convened to look at the whole case of Sgt McCabe. 

It appears that the information on the family’s file was on record for 2 1/2 years before a social worker ever investigated. It also appears that the “Upgraded” accusations were never investigated or were never even reported to Police. This was a crime under the law. 

As someone who is very familiar with the modus operandi of the Child and Family Agency, I find the sequence of events very unusual. It is not unusual for the CFA to withhold evidence in child sexual abuse cases, this matter has been raised many times. Once Police are investigating the sexual abuse of a child, the CFA must back down and not interfere with the investigation. It is also interesting to note that to not report a case of child sexual abuse to Police is a crime, and social workers are not exempt. Despite this, I have never heard of a social worker being prosecuted.

Social workers have no statutory power to investigate crimes. Crime is the domain of the Police to investigate, the Prosecution Service to prosecute and a Criminal Judge or Jury to decide on guilt. The first chapter of my book: “I can’t get my head around this”, explains the process very well. If you are accused of abusing or neglecting a child there will be 2 separate investigations by 2 separate bodies, but while Police use the Criminal route of the Criminal Courts, Family Law is heard as Private Law under a much lower Burden of Proof.

What is also very strange, is why Sgt McCabe’s children were not removed from his and his wife’s care immediately? Even if I accepted the excuse that nobody looked at the file for 2 years, which I don’t, it should have prompted a Police Investigation and a CFA taking the case to a District Court and asking the Judge for an Emergency Care Order, 99% of ECO’s are granted immediately. There was no attempt to take this to court and protect the children. 

Essentially, we are asked to believe that a series of “Errors”, none of which favored Sgt McCabe, were made at a time when his credibility rested on him being an upstanding member of society. The sexual assault came from the daughter of a colleague he had accused. The sexual assault file came to light 2 1/2 years after it was recorded on his file, at a time when his credibility meant everything to his whistleblowing. 

I’m pretty sure that a Stand-Up Comic could recite my last paragraph and it would be met with howls of laughter, many amateur comics have laughed on Social Media, but I’m not laughing. 

I’m not laughing because I know of suicides of people who have been wrongly accused. I’m not laughing because I know the pain of children who have been wrongly removed from their siblings and parent by an incompetent organization.  All it takes is a “Cut & Paste Error” and your life will be destroyed, as well as your children’s lives. 

What Sgt Maurice McCabe accomplished is nothing short of remarkable. 2 Ministers for Justice, 1 of whom was Assistant Prime Minister (Tainiste), 2 Police Commissioners, a Superintendent Press Officer and others “Resigned” as their positions became untenable. The CEO of the Child and Family Agency also “Resigned”.  At least €30 million was spent on 2 Tribunals of Inquiry, and the “Last Man Standing” with any credibility or integrity was Sergeant Maurice McCabe and his wife Lorraine.

In a weeks time the whole fiasco will be forgotten about on Social Media and the Publics attention will be directed elsewhere. Also in a weeks time a few more people will also have been falsely accused of sexually abusing children, but you will never hear of these cases. The falsely accused will be gagged in a court of law and forbidden to publicly protest their innocence. Nothing will change because of this fiasco because historically, nothing has changed since previous fiascos. 

What needs to happen at this point is Prosecutions. It is both a crime to make a false  report of Child Sexual Abuse, it is also a crime to not report a crime to Police. 

Every year in Ireland the Child and Family Agency claim that there are 550 “Confirmed” cases of sexual abuse of children. ‘Every year the Director of Public Prosecutions only prosecute about 40 cases a year, and most of those cases are brought forward by adults, and not by the Child and Family Agency. The Gardai (Police) have reported that they must go to the High Court to get permission to investigate Child Abuse case, this is absurd, all they need to do is to prosecute social workers who know of a crime but have not reported it. Without consequences, nothing changes. 

Joe

You can view Part 1 of the documentary here.