Posted February 29, 2016 18:33:34

Photo: Former Families SA carer Shannon Grant McCoole has been jailed for 35 years for abusing children in his care. (Supplied)

Paedophile carer Shannon McCoole was singled out by Families SA management as a potential leader despite many staff refusing to work alongside him, a royal commission has heard.

McCoole's former supervisor, who cannot be named, described McCoole as a model employee who was competent, innovative and preferred over other staff.

Now 33 years old, McCoole is currently serving 35 years in jail for sexually abusing children as young as 18 months old and running a child pornography website.

The Child Protection Systems Royal Commission in Adelaide heard that the supervisor is currently facing dishonesty charges and has been suspended from Families SA with pay since June 2015.

The supervisor said McCoole was the subject of gossip among staff and many people disliked him, considered him abrupt, dominant and a know-it-all.

He said it was not unusual for staff to make up allegations about colleagues and it was not his job as a supervisor to act on gossip.

"McCoole was coming up with ideas so to us it seemed like he had leadership potential," the supervisor said.

The inquiry was told how at one stage the supervisor wrote that McCoole was "a great addition to any team" and the witness told the inquiry "that view was shared by all of our management team".

His ability to manage young people in crisis and positively interact with people was noted by the supervisor as exemplary.

The witness was asked about the discovery of an R-rated movie entitled Young People F**king on a hard drive that McCoole brought into a residential care home.

He said he was shocked by the movie's title but could not recall any further thinking at the time between managers about the issue.

He said another Families SA manager watched the movie and it was considered similar to the comedy movie American Pie.

The inquiry heard the issue was resolved through fortnightly supervision sessions with McCoole but only two sessions actually took place.

He said McCoole later "seemed to be taking heed and improving" and all staff were banned from bringing in hard drives.

Supervisor denies describing whistleblower as a bitch

About a year before McCoole's arrest, a colleague reported the suspected rape of a six-year-old girl.

The Child Protection Systems Royal Commission is examining a series of red flags that were noticed during Shannon McCoole's employment as a government carer. We look back at significant events during his employment.

The supervisor denied describing the whistleblower as a bitch, or characterising the situation as a clash of personalities, or defending McCoole as being incapable of such behaviour.

He also rejected a suggestion that he warned the whistleblower she could be ruining a good man's reputation.

The Counsel Assisting the Royal Commissioner, Emily Telfer, suggested that the witness warned others to watch out for the whistleblower and that she was running about accusing good workers of being paedophiles.

The witness rejected that suggestion along with a claim that he said it was actually the whistleblower and not McCoole who was in the wrong.

He could not recall how he personally felt about the rape allegation but said such claims were not rare in child protection.

"I've encountered it too many times," the supervisor said.

"You become very ,very aware that you have to develop a sense of neutrality to survive."

McCoole was later cleared of the allegations and returned from suspension.

The supervisor said he thought Families SA's pre-employment psychological testing was meant to weed out paedophiles and other undesirables.

"You would never dream that a paedophile would get through recruitment and into your area," he said.

"You cannot possibly work assuming that people in your ranks are paedophiles."

He said he did not know that a child had called McCoole "Mr Paedophile".

Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, child-abuse, community-and-society, adelaide-5000, sa, australia