Kristi Faber: police officer leading by example

That’s in addition to other serious crimes, including assaults, sexual assaults, armed robberies and murders.

The historic child sexual abuse cases can be allegations against clergy, teachers, youth workers or others in institutions dating back, in many cases, to the 1970s and even 1960s.

They can also be devastating child sex allegations made by adults against their parents, uncles, grandparents, siblings or long-time family friends.

An historic child sexual abuse investigation was almost the first case Detective Sergeant Kristi Faber dealt with after joining Lake Macquarie command in 1999.

Sixteen years later, her compassion for victims of historic child sexual abuse, and success in gaining convictions in the notoriously difficult field, led to recognition recently  as one of the state’s top police officers for 2015.

Her many fans celebrated almost more than she did.

‘‘I think the world of her,’’ said Audrey Nash, 89, whose son Andrew was 13 when he hanged himself in his bedroom in 1974. More than 40 years later his Marist Brothers year master, Brother Romuald, was jailed for being a violent and opportunistic sex offender of 19 former students.

‘‘After all these years of not knowing why it happened, it was a difficult time after Romuald was charged. 

‘‘Kristi was so compassionate, so supportive and caring. She came to me for a statement.

‘‘I felt a sense of relief when he was convicted. He’d gone and was finally having to pay for all his crimes. I will be forever grateful to Kristi for that. She’s wonderful. I appreciate everything she did.’’

Terry Skippen was the first former Hunter Marist Brothers student to make a statement to Faber about Romuald, whose real name is Francis Cable.

‘‘Both my wife, Lynne, and I were so appreciative of her extreme compassion and empathetic nature,’’ Skippen says.

‘‘Her dedication and determination was so evident throughout the case, with justice prevailing.’’

FABER’S name is synonymous with the Lake Macquarie Command strike force established in late 2007 to investigate historic child sexual abuse crimes against Catholic clergy, Strike Force Georgiana.

Eight years later, Georgiana is one of the longest continuously running strike forces in NSW, which is a surprise, Faber says.

‘‘If you had told me eight years ago that Georgiana would still be running in 2015 and still have cases before the courts, I never would have believed you,’’ she says.

‘‘It doesn’t even seem like it’s been that long.’’

Strike Force Georgiana started with a statement by John Parmeter, who alleged he had been sexually abused by Catholic priest Peter Brock.

Within a few weeks Strike Force Georgiana police under Faber were investigating other serious child sex allegations against dentist Ashleigh Jarrold, Catholic priest John Denham, and another priest who cannot be named.

Police were given the names of other possible child sex victims.

‘‘We would go to see people and they’d just start crying,’’ Faber says.

One of those people was Belmont North fireman John Pirona, a friend of Faber’s, who was the first of Denham’s victims to make a statement in 2008, alleging Denham had sexually abused him at St Pius X school, Adamstown.

‘‘I take a lot of statements from people I know,’’ Faber says.

‘‘It’s my job to make it comfortable and easy for them to make it.’’

Brock, Jarrold, Denham and two other men who cannot be named were charged with child sex offences. Charges against Brock were eventually withdrawn, but the other four men were convicted and jailed.

During the St Pius X investigations, Strike Force Georgiana took a statement from its former principal and Catholic priest Tom Brennan, in which he stated no one had ever complained about Denham.

In 2009 Strike Force Georgiana charged Brennan with making a false statement to police after up to 12 parents, former teachers and former students made statements about reporting Denham to Brennan in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Although at the time it received little publicity beyond the Hunter, it was a significant moment in Australian criminal history and one of a number of firsts for Georgiana and Faber.

Brennan had become the first Australian Catholic clergyman charged with an offence relating to concealing the child sex crimes of another priest.

‘‘That was a big one for us,’’ Faber says.

She made Australian history again in 2012 by charging Brennan with concealing the child sex crimes of Denham, making him the first Australian priest, and one of only a handful of Catholic priests in the world, to face such a charge.

While the charge was significant, the decision to charge was ‘‘pretty easy because it was a strong case’’, Faber says.

Brennan died of cancer before the matter went to trial.

The conviction and jailing of John Denham in 2010 for crimes against 39 boys between 1968 and 1986, and his conviction again in January this year for crimes against another 18 boys, was ‘‘groundbreaking’’, Faber says.

His combined 19 years and five months sentence demonstrates the shift that has taken place in the justice system, and the community, in recognising the seriousness of child sex crimes, she says.

‘‘It’s akin to murder because that child’s life, however it was meant to be, changes at that point, and that’s why we take it so seriously.

‘‘I talk to some victims and you can tell when you’re looking at their lives, you can tell when their life has turned because of the abuse.’’

Faber has interviewed victims in jail convicted of crimes because of drug habits directly related to their sexual abuse as children.

She has taken statements from victims on suicide watch, and some who have disclosed during suicide attempts.

During lectures to other police about investigating historic child sexual abuse, Faber emphasises compassion and the vital importance of first contact between a victim and police.

‘‘So many people tell me they sit outside the police station for days and days before getting up the courage to come in,’’ she says.

‘‘You’ve got to really make sure that when they first come to you, that you’re there for them, to listen.’’

SHE owes a great debt to two women, she says.

‘‘I have an amazing, strong mother, Viv Northey, who’s always said that what’s important in life is courage and kindness.’’

The second debt is owed to retired Lake Macquarie police officer Jill Burgess, who emphasised the need for compassion during Faber’s first child sex investigation, along with the need for calm and confidence.

‘‘She taught me that you have to be impartial and strong and compassionate, and you have to steel yourself because these are horrific crimes involving children. Not everyone can do that, but the people on my team can do that.’’

Faber grew up in the area. She attended high school at West Wallsend and at university studied welfare and economics.

Her mother and her father, Phil, ‘‘raised us to believe we could be anything we wanted to be’’.

‘‘I always thought I’d go overseas and do something like work in missions with children,’’ she says.

Then her older brother Craig joined the police force.

‘‘I didn’t have massive ambitions at the time and I thought, oh, that looks like something I’d like,’’ she says.

She joined in 1992, aged 21, and was a detective investigating murders and gang-related crimes in Sydney by 1994.

Both her sons, aged 18 and 12, have said they want to join the NSW Police Force.

Faber is immensely proud of the work achieved by Lake Macquarie police in changing the climate of silence that surrounded historic child sexual abuse in Australia.

As well as Strike Force Georgiana, Lake Macquarie is also responsible for major convictions through Strike Force Tolentino (Henry Anning, jailed for 12 years for offences against five victims); Strike Force Morey (David Boddy, jailed for 24 years for offences against 17 victims); Strike Force Darook (Swansea MP Milton Orkopoulos, jailed for a minimum of nine years for child pornography, child sex and drugs charges); and Strike Force Rubicon (Robert Holland, who died before he was sentenced for offences against seven victims).

‘‘We just hope we’ve shown people you can come forward and we will listen,’’ she says.

‘‘I emphasise people’s welfare and support. You always hope you can assist in putting them in a better place.’’

Some of the bravest people she has met have been victims of child sexual abuse, Faber says.

‘‘Every strike force starts with one brave person coming forward, and then we investigate,’’ she says.