Archbishop Philip Wilson deemed fit to stand trial — Prosecutors to open proceedings on Wednesday
ARCHBISHOP Philip Wilson has arrived at court, after being deemed fit to stand trial on allegations of covering up child sex abuse within the Catholic Church.
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ARCHBISHOP Philip Wilson has arrived at court, after being deemed fit to stand trial on allegations of covering up child sex abuse within the Catholic Church.
Archbishop Wilson had earlier visited an Adelaide neuropsychologist over health concerns.
The court heard that while Dr Emma Scamps did find some areas of “cognitive impairment”, Dominic Agresta, defending, said “on the whole, he was fit to stand trial”.
The Archbishop of Adelaide, 67, was on Tuesday flanked by Monsignor David Cappo outside Dr Scamps’ Myrtle Bank rooms ahead of his landmark trial in Newcastle, which will begin on Wednesday afternoon.
He met with Dr Scamps for urgent mental fitness testing, days after his shock Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis was publicly disclosed.
Dressed in a black blazer and trousers, he walked steadily without comment.
An angry Monsignor Cappo, who had driven the pair in a black 4WD, said: “This is most inappropriate.”
The court last week heard Archbishop Wilson had failed a series of basic cognitive tests including Year 1 time reading exercises and counting backwards from 100 in seven increments.
Prosecutors and his defence team were awaiting the new results, which will dictate the trial’s direction more than 2 ½ years after he was charged with covering-up church sex abuse.
They were sought after another neurologist, Associate Professor Andrew Lee, could not rule out whether the Archbishop was “malingering”, or faking illness to avoid trial.
If given the all-clear, the trial will this start before local Magistrate Caleb Franklin, who has expressed frustration at the “completely unsatisfactory” case delays.
The court last week heard the Archbishop was diagnosed with early stages of dementia after suffering head injuries from a “nasty” fall on October 11 that left him unconscious and needing hospital treatment for an 8cm head cut.
He also had a pacemaker fitted — meaning he could not fly for at least seven days — amid concerns about his ailing health.
He also suffers from diabetes.
Despite his ailing health he has refused to resign.
Archbishop Wilson, the highest-ranking Catholic Church official in the world to be charged with such crimes, has taken personal leave while he “vigorously” defends the case.
He denies one charge of concealing a serious indictable offence.
The Archbishop, a former local junior priest, last week failed to travel to New South Wales for the two-week trial last week before it was hit by the medical delays.
Court documents state he is accused of concealing sexual abuse by a local paedophile, James Patrick Fletcher in the mid-2000s after being first told of the crimes in 1976.
He faces a maximum two years in jail if convicted of the charge laid by NSW police Strike Force Lantle, which was formed to investigate sexual abuse allegations.
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