User:Cgervaso/Denis Ryan (former policeman)

Denis Ryan (Former Policeman new article content ...

Background

Denis James Henry Ryan was born in 1931 at Hurstville, Sydney, Australia. He moved to Melbourne, Victoria in 1951, and in March 1952 joined Victoria Police after three months study at the Victoria Police Depot in St Kilda Road, Melbourne.

Career

In 1952 Denis Ryan served with Victoria Police at Russell Street Headquarters. He then served at Windsor on the St Kilda junction about six months, before moving to St Kilda until late 1956. He was next appointed to the Special Patrol in the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) at Russell Street Headquarters. In 1958 Denis Ryan was posted to a new station at Mordialloc.

As a young police detective from Melbourne Denis Ryan was transferred to the Victorian town of Mildura in the early 1962. Ryan quickly gained the trust of the people of Mildura. One by one the victims of Catholic priest Monsignor John Day, arguably Australia's most prolific paedophile, started coming forward-children who had been molested by Monsignor Day and their shocked and sometimes disbelieving parents. Armed with a dozen or more signed statements, Ryan had sufficient evidence to lay charges, but his every step towards bringing Day to justice was blocked by the Catholic Church and then the Victoria Police. Ryan struggled for decades to have his story and those of Day's countless victims heard.

In 2015 Denis Ryan told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse there had been "misconduct by senior Victoria Police officers, including dereliction of duty, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and inciting other members of the police force to join the conspiracy against Denis Ryan in order to conceal the crimes committed by Day" After Ryan's testimony Victoria Police promised an apology and to pay compensation to a former detective more than 30 years after senior officers covered up his investigation.

Unholy Trinity

Denis Ryan and Peter Hoysted authored the book Unholy Trinity: The hunt for the paedophile priest Monsignor John Day. The book is Denis Ryan's moving account of how he tried for decades to bring a paedophile priest to justice - but was blocked by not only the Catholic church, but by his own Police Force.

Co-author Peter Hoysted wrote of Denis Ryan:

I’ve known Ryan for a long time now and I consider him a hero. He put everything on the line to protect children and lost the lot. He did his duty to uphold the law while those around him bowed to a perverse sense of loyalty that allowed a priest to escape the clutches of the law and then stood complicit while Ryan’s career and livelihood were destroyed.

What Denis Ryan did in 1972 was the essence of courage. In that dark time and place, he was the only one who stood firm. His is arguably the only good story to come out of the scandal of clerical pedophilia that infects the Ballarat Diocese to this day.

Ryan’s story should be known and celebrated. We would all like to think that when challenged as Ryan was, we would do as he did, but it is only in understanding the nature of his courage we may seek to emulate it.

External links

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• Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Statement by Denis Ryan, 16 November 2015. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/15ae47f25eb07cfc?projector=1