Courts prolong abuse survivors' suffering

The effects of being sexually abused as a child are escalated by involvement in the criminal justice system, an abuse survivor who now advises police on interacting with victims says.

Sascha Chandler, an international banker whose battle to bring his abuser Andrew McIntosh to justice in 2006 received wide media attention, on Thursday told the sex abuse royal commission in Sydney fundamental changes were needed.

The commission has spent two weeks examining how the criminal justice system handles child sex abuse cases.

Mr Chandler recommended better training for first-response police and that prosecutors significantly improve communication with survivor witnesses.

He was 15 in 1990 when he was abused at Barker College, an Anglican private school at Hornsby on Sydney's north shore by McIntosh who was working with the school's cadet corps.

It took 15 years before Mr Chandler could tell police about the assaults.

He had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome and had told his own family about McIntosh, who had physically and sexually abused him for years.

On Thursday Mr Chandler said after the first interview police at Hornsby police station he felt like throwing himself under a train.

"It was like I was reporting a stolen wallet," he said.

He found subsequent police interviews, delays and lack of information from police and prosecutors would trigger feelings of powerlessness like those he felt when McIntosh was abusing him.

It was not until Detective Inspector Andrew Fraser became case officer in 2008 that the professionalism and empathy essential to get him through was provided, Mr Chandler said.

The story of their efforts to bring McIntosh to justice was told in an ABC Australian Story program in 2011. Mr Chandler now assists NSW detectives and supports abuse survivors in the criminal justice system.

NSW Detective Sergeant Matthew Davey runs the training courses for criminal investigators in which Mr Chandler is involved.

He said what happened to Mr Chandler, who had four different case officers, "was highly irregular and unusual".

On Thursday the commission also heard from visiting UK experts who are in NSW to provide training for a pilot scheme.

The scheme will see "intermediaries" appointed to help police and courts with evidence from children and people with communication difficulties.

Law expert Professor Penny Cooper designed the training for the Registered Witness Intermediary Scheme which has been operating for more than 10 years in the UK.

Psychologist Michelle Mattison is a registered intermediary in England. She said the UK system was carefully regulated and operated successfully.

Dr Mattison has predominantly specialised in working with children and adults with disabilities.

The commission has said in Australia children with a disability who are in institutions are particularly vulnerable to abuse.

Research shows fewer complaints about abuse of these children end up in prosecutions.

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