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Duke of Edinburgh Program "Deeply Regrets" Mates Incident

Tuesday, 19 March 2013 at 11:17

It wasn't the royal treatment she had signed up for. The sexual exploitation of a 17-year-old girl at the hands of "Field Officer", Bill Mates, happened on a trip for youth through the Duke of Edinburgh's Award program. It's a program for high achieving youth to promote community involvement, and physical fitness. With news of Mates admission of guilt on Monday, the Duke of Edinburgh program has released a statement, saying they ""deeply regret" what transpired on that trip to Kenya in 2007. They also say they hope the admission of guilt will allow the victim, Anne Kneale to - "...help with the healing process and that Anne will now be able and move forward with her life." Mates will be back in court on May 10th to set a date for sentencing, and he could face jail time. Here's the full statement released to Heart FM this afternoon: All of us associated with The Duke of Edinburgh?s Award programme deeply regret what took place during an Award sanctioned activity. We hope that as a result of this admission of guilt, that this will help with the healing process and that Anne will now be able and move forward with her life. We believe that all people have the right to participate in activities free from any form of physical or mental abuse. The Duke of Edinburgh?s Award programme has worked hard to implement policies and procedures to protect all participants in our programme. We will continue to be diligent and all of our staff and volunteers that work directly with youth will be required to undergo a police criminal record check. We continually review our screening and hiring practices in an effort to ensure that all participants remain free from any form of physical or mental abuse or harassment. The Duke of Edinburgh?s Award Rick B. Ashbee National Executive Director

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