Parents of paedophile bus driver victim say Archbishop Philip Wilson must resign after verdict

THE parents of a victim in one of the most high-profile child sex abuse cases involving the Catholic Church in South Australia says Archbishop Philip Wilson must resign after his guilty verdict.

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• READ BELOW: Cover-up verdict evokes state law talk

THE parents of a victim in one of the most high-profile child sex abuse cases involving the Catholic Church in South Australia says Archbishop Philip Wilson must resign after his guilty verdict.

Helen and Brian Gitsham, whose son David was abused by St Ann’s Special School paedophile bus driver Brian Perkins, says Wilson’s position as Archbishop of Adelaide is now untenable.

“I think (resigning) is the very least he could do,” Mrs Gitsham, 72, said.

“He just can’t continue in that position with any credibility at all. It’s not just a minor incident, it’s a major crime ... it’s a deliberate cover up.”

Helen and Brian Gitsham. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

The couple’s son, David, attended St Ann’s Special School from 1975 to 1988 while paedophile Perkins was employed as a bus driver and volunteered at the Marion school.

David’s behaviour deteriorated in the years after, but it was not until 2001 when the abuse was uncovered publicly that his parents began to suspect he had been a victim of Perkins.

David was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2005 and died shortly after.

Mrs Gitsham said the culture of the Catholic Church and its dealing with victims of sex abuse must change.

“It wasn’t about abuse, it was about how the church responded to it,” she said.

“It’s about self-protection, self-preservation and self-interest.

“Everything that they did was about the protection of the church itself and it’s good name.

“The good that they do does not excuse the wrong that has happened.

“It’s going to take a long time to change and I think it’s going to take a lot more action to make sure it happens.”

David Gitsham

She hoped the guilty verdict against Wilson would encourage other victims of the Catholic Church across Australia to speak up.

“I think people may have more confidence now,” she said.

Mrs Gitsham said laws making it illegal to cover up abuse should be uniform across the country — one of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Currently, only New South Wales and Victoria have laws dealing with failing to report criminal activity.

“There needs to be a national response that is consistent for each state,” Mrs Gitsham said.

“This could be a landmark decision which will look at other institutions over the years.”

Cover-up verdict evokes law talk

By Adam Langenberg

ATTORNEY-General Vickie Chapman says she will consider the merits of the NSW legislation that ensnared Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson at a meeting next month.

Wilson faces a possible jail sentence after a NSW court found him guilty of covering up a paedophile priest’s abuse of young boys.

Ms Chapman said she would consider the NSW legislation at a meeting of state and territory attorneys-general in early June.

Attorney-General Vickie Chapman.

Wilson would not currently face jail for a similar crime if it was committed in South Australia.

Under new laws that come into effect in SA in October, someone in a position of power who fails to report a suspicion of child abuse faces a maximum fine of $10,000.

The new laws — which passed State Parliament with bipartisan support last year — impose a maximum penalty of $10,000 to someone who forms a suspicion during their work that child abuse or neglect is occurring, and fails to report it.

The Government is understood to be leaning towards seeing how the new laws perform before considering making any wholesale changes.

SA Best MLC Connie Bonaros said she’d received advice the new laws still allowed priests to not reveal their suspicion of child abuse or neglect if it was learned in confession, an assertion rejected by the government.

Ms Bonaros announced SA Best would introduce new legislation that would see priests or ministers of religion face imprisonment if they failed to report any serious crimes or incidents of child abuse revealed to them in confession.

“Church law should not be above the law of the land,” Ms Bonaros said.