Police set up Hey Dad! strike force

Police have set up a strike force team to investigate allegations of indecent assault made against Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes.

Sarah Monahan, who played Hughes’s on-screen daughter on the Channel Seven show from 1987 to 1994, has told media outlets that he touched her inappropriately.

Hughes, who now lives in Singapore, has strenuously denied the allegations.

Today it was announced that detectives have formed Strike Force Ruskin to examine the claims.

They say they will interview alleged victims and witnesses but warn that it will be a protracted investigation.

Earlier, police said they were likely to take a statement on the allegations later today.

A police spokesman said a statement was most likely to be taken from Monahan at an undisclosed location.

Last week, police said they had begun to collate material relating to the matter but an official complaint had yet to be made.

Police wait for Hey Dad! complaints

Police say no official investigation is underway into claims of sexual abuse on the set of Australian TV comedy Hey Dad!

Former child star Sarah Monahan last week told a woman’s magazine a man on the show inappropriately touched her and exposed himself to her.

Actor Robert Hughes, who now lives in Singapore, was on Wednesday night named by the Nine Network as the alleged perpetrator.

Hughes has vehemently denied the allegation and his legal team has been in contact with NSW Police.

A Current Affair reported that other women had come forward with claims similar to Monahan.

But commander of the NSW Sex Crimes Squad, Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec, says an official investigation into the matter will not proceed until the alleged victims contact police.

“Our information is based on what’s in the media. I’ve had no direct contact – and neither has anyone else in NSW Police – with any of the victims,” he said.

“If victims make contact with police it’ll be taken in strict confidence.”

He added: “Investigators are collating this information … and if there’s a witness to be interviewed those investigators are ready.”

Detective Superintendent Kerlatec says he is “confident” the alleged victims will contact police in coming days.

“I have an expectation they’ll come forward,” he said.

“It’s based on small pieces of information that have come towards me today that we’ll hopefully be able to arrange to meet and speak with these people.”

Monahan played Hughes’s on-screen daughter Jenny Kelly.

Hey Dad! aired from 1987 to 1994 on the Seven Network.

Actor denies Hey Dad! abuse claims

Actor Robert Hughes has denied allegations he was involved in inappropriate conduct with a child star on the set of Australian TV comedy Hey Dad!

Hughes, who played Martin Kelly on the show, says he is shocked at the allegations made by Sarah Monahan, who was six when she started playing his on-screen daughter Jenny Kelly in the Seven Network show in the 1980s.

“I am absolutely totally shocked at the allegation and I absolutely deny everything,” Hughes told the Nine Network.

“I am absolutely puzzled as to why this is being said now.

“Everything now is in the hands of defamation lawyers.”

Monahan told Woman’s Day magazine last week a man on the show inappropriately touched her and exposed himself to her.

She later told the Nine Network he would “touch my boobs” and try to tickle her in the dressing room in between takes.

Monahan, who now lives in the United States, did not name the man.

But Nine’s A Current Affair on Wednesday named Hughes as the alleged perpetrator and said other women had come forward with similar claims.

Hughes, who played the show’s central character Martin Kelly, now lives in Singapore.

- ABC/AAP

I wasn’t the only abuse victim: Hey Dad! star

Former Hey Dad! star Sarah Monahan says she was not the only cast member sexually assaulted behind the scenes of the hit show.

Monahan, who played schoolgirl Jenny Kelly, was nine when she began work on the series, which aired on the Seven Network from 1987 to 1994.

She told Woman’s Day magazine last week that a man who worked on the show fondled her and exposed himself to her.

She did not name the man nor did she say if he was a member of the cast or crew, but she did describe him variously as “big”, “powerful” and “well respected”.

Speaking on the Nine Network on Monday, Monahan said there were other other victims among the Hey Dad! cast.

“I guess I was the smallest and I know I wasn’t the only one. The others are just still not going to speak about it,” she said.

Monahan said she was her family’s breadwinner following the death of her father shortly before Hey Dad! began its run.

She said she was fearful she would be forced out of work if she spoke up about the alleged perpetrator.

“I knew he was a dirty old man. I knew it. But I was paying the rent essentially, so there wasn’t much you could do,” she said.

“And it was always, ‘keep it hushed because this is the most successful show on television and people don’t want to know that’.

“A lot of people knew, but it was ‘you can’t talk about it, you can’t go public, you can’t press charges’.

“Then, ‘he’s a very powerful person’ and it becomes he said-she said.”

Another alleged victim of the man has made similar allegations to Nine, saying they were inspired by Monahan to come forward.

Monahan said she intended to go to the police with that person to tell their stories.

“I think that [the alleged attacker] should definitely burn in hell. I think they should go to jail,” she said.

Nine confirmed a NSW Police detective superintendent is investigating the allegations.

- AAP

‘I was abused on set’, claims Hey Dad! star

The youngest female cast member of Australian television comedy Hey Dad! says she was sexually abused on the set of the top-rating program.

Sarah Monahan played schoolgirl Jenny Kelly. She was nine years old when she began work on the series, which aired on the Seven Network from 1987 to 1994.

Monahan has told Woman’s Day magazine that a male who worked on the show fondled her and exposed himself to her.

She did not name the man, nor did she say if he was a member of the cast or crew.

“This person used to sit me on his lap or tickle me, but then he started putting his arm around me and trying to do this reach-around and grabbing me, but at the same time trying to feel me up,” she was quoted as saying in the magazine.

“He was always there flashing me or trying to cop a feel.

“I quickly learned never to be alone in private with him, especially when he started flashing me.”

Monahan was her family’s breadwinner after her father died and she feared speaking up would mean she would lose her job.

Former co-star Julie McGregor, who played Betty Wilson, described Monahan as a “very popular little girl” and says she is shocked by the allegations.

“I had heard something but I had no idea the extent of the monstering … and I feel sorry for her that there was no-one that she could feel she could turn to,” she told the Nine Network.

“I think whoever this person was was very clever. They knew how to operate.”

Chris Truswell, who played family friend Gerald “Nudge” Noritis, fears people will think he is the alleged assailant.

Both Truswell and McGregor say they have no idea of the identity of Monahan’s alleged assailant and never saw any inappropriate behaviour.

Monahan now lives in the US making TV programs with her husband.

- AAP