Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Edward Wilson loses last-ditch bid to have child sex abuse cover-up case dismissed
ADELAIDE’S Archbishop did not cover up child sex abuse because he had “no memory” of graphic conversations about alleged crimes against altar boys, he has told a court.
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ADELAIDE’S Archbishop did not cover up child sex abuse because he had “no memory” of graphic conversations about alleged crimes against altar boys, he has told a court.
Philip Edward Wilson, 67, on Wednesday took the stand in his own defence just moments after he lost his fourth attempt to have Australia’s first such prosecution dropped.
The Archbishop, who has early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, is the world’s highest ranking church official charged with concealing, and failing to inform police of, historic abuse over the past four decades.
Giving evidence in his defence almost three years after specialised New South Wales police taskforce detectives charged him, Wilson denied he had ever been told that a colleague had abused young boys.
Speaking in a clear, loud voice, he also told Newcastle Local Court that while he took any abuse allegations seriously, he said he usually waited until a court proved such claims before he believed them.
Any such claims, he said, must always be referred to police.
As victims, their families and senior church officials watched from the public gallery, Wilson told the court that he had “no memory” of at least two conversations victims claimed they had with him when he was a junior priest in the Hunter Valley in 1976.
Peter Aiden Creigh, now 57, has testified that he told Wilson one night after a church group about horrific abuse Father James “Jim” Patrick Fletcher inflicted on him as a 10 year-old.
Mr Creigh, who went to police in 2013, testified Wilson had a “look of horror” when told.
Asked by his barrister Stephen Odgers SC whether it was “likely or unlikely” the conversation with Mr Creigh occurred, the Archbishop replied: “I think it is unlikely because the nature of the evidence (given during the trial) was so graphic I don’t think I would have forgotten that.”
He was asked what he would have done if he had been told by Mr Creigh – whom he met through the young boy’s parents – about the abuse.
He replied he would have organised “pastoral support and care” to the boy and his family and then developed a relationship with Mr Creigh so he could go to the proper authorities.
He then denied he would have ever told anyone they would be “punished” for coming forward with such allegations.
He denied any memory of further conversation in 1976 he had with an abuse victim during confession, which the trial has heard was where Wilson accused the altar boy of lying.
That victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, revealed he was branded a liar because the priest considered Fletcher a “good bloke”.
While Wilson said all confessions were subject to a “seal”, he said in a hypothetical scenario he would have never accused churchgoers of lying.
“It would not have been my practice or my actions to tell people that they were telling lies,” he said.
His evidence came after he lost his bid to have his landmark child sex abuse cover up case dismissed after Magistrate Robert Stone ruled there was a case to answer.
He rejected defence lawyers’ claims that the victim’s memory was clouded, meaning there was “reasonable doubt” about whether Wilson was told in 1976 about Fletcher’s abuse.
He also ruled against claims that horrific abuse Fletcher inflicted on Mr Creigh was then defined as an “act of indecency” under NSW law and not an “indecent assault”.
This was, the trial was told, because the boy had been “persuaded”, and not “pressured” using force, into committing sex acts on Wilson’s friend in 1971.
While the court heard the law has since changed, such an act was then not deemed a “serious” crime as charged today by prosecutors, who insisted the victim was steadfast in his memory recall.
It was the third blow to the defence case after the Magistrate ruled key “tendency” evidence from senior colleagues, including Monsignor David Cappo, was to be excluded and that prosecutors could call “character rebutting” witnesses.
The trial continues.
Tuesday’s harrowing hearing left Mr Creigh – who has waived his legal right to anonymity – in tears and prompted another abuse victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to storm out of court.
Other relatives listening from a packed public gallery were also left outraged.
Fletcher, 65, abused the altar boys at Maitland, near Newcastle, 165km north of Sydney and died in 2006 while serving a 10-year prison term for abusing one of them.
The Archbishop accepts abuse occurred but denies being informed.
Stephen Odgers SC, defending, had raised doubts about Mr Creigh’s “ambiguous”, and contradictory, evidence on conversations “decades in the past”.
“We are not in any way challenging his truthfulness, our submission is there should be real concern regarding the reliability of his memory,” he said.
But prosecutor Gareth Harrison argued the crimes were assault while Mr Creigh’s had a “vivid memory” of the Archbishop conversation.
“Mr Creigh did not waver in recalling this particular occasion. He was consistent throughout (his evidence),” he said.
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