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Tas nurse abuser case 'swept under carpet'

Ethan JamesAAP
Keelie McMahon and Annette Whitemore testified of their abuse claims being "swept under the carpet".
Camera IconKeelie McMahon and Annette Whitemore testified of their abuse claims being "swept under the carpet". Credit: AAP

The death of a nurse who took his own life after being charged with child sexual abuse offences was "swept under the carpet" by a hospital in Tasmania, an inquiry has been told.

James Geoffrey Griffin, who worked at the Launceston General Hospital children's ward for almost two decades, died in late 2019 shortly after being formally charged.

An inquiry into child sexual abuse in state government agencies has this week been told of a litany of boundary breaches by Griffin and a report to police that child abuse material was found on an old computer of his in the early 2000s.

Hospital nurse Annette Whitemore, whose daughter Keelie McMahon was abused by Griffin, said the facility tried to "keep a lid" on Griffin's death.

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Ms Whitemore said in July 2019, when Griffin was stood down while being investigated by police, staff received an email to say he had retired and to "respect his privacy".

"Then it all came out," she told the inquiry on Wednesday.

Ms Whitemore said the hospital should have employed professionals to speak to staff after they became aware of Griffin's charges, and not "pussy-foot around, or ... 'if we tell them not to talk about it, it will all go away'," she said.

"The feeling was it was just being swept under the carpet. It's still traumatic to think we were told not to talk about it."

Ms McMahon said she was abused by Griffin, a family friend, in late 2011 and 2012 at the age of 14 at his house and on a camping trip.

She disclosed the abuse to police and her mother in 2019 and said there was silence from authorities after Griffin died while on bail.

"I felt like I just put my trauma on the table and they picked it up and threw it in a cupboard," Ms McMahon said about police.

"There was no 'we're so sorry for this, we're going to do everything we can to investigate how this happened'.

"From that point on, that's how everybody handled the situation. There was no contact from police ... the hospital, no public announcement."

Ms McMahon and Ms Whitemore subsequently aired their allegations publicly, with media coverage proving a major catalyst of the inquiry being called.

The inquiry has been told boundary breaches by Griffin included a "wet" kiss, hugging child patients and sexualised conversations with teenage girls.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Tasmanian secretary Emily Shepherd said the union spoke with staff in 2019 shortly after Griffin's death.

She said members indicated concerns about Griffin had been raised verbally, via email and on paper-based incident reports.

"There was a collective recognition that there had been a pattern of reporting over a number of years," she said.

Ms Shepherd said there was a lack of clarity among staff about mandatory reporting and confusion around how to best raise complaints about colleagues.

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