Villanova student abused by multiple priests, court hears
A man who was allegedly photographed and molested as a boy by a Catholic priest from his school told his psychiatrist he had been sexually abused by multiple priests, a court has heard.
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A MAN who was allegedly photographed nude and indecently touched as a boy by a Catholic priest from his school told his psychiatrist two priests sexually abused him, a court has heard. Former priest Michael Ambrose Endicott is on trial in Brisbane District Court on eight counts of indecently dealing with a male student from Brisbane’s Villanova College.
Former priest to face trial on child sex offences
He has pleaded not guilty to the offences, which allegedly occurred between 1975 and 1981, when the boy was aged between nine and 15.
The alleged victim’s treating psychiatrist, Dr Tom Hogan, told the court when he first saw the man in 2003 he told him he had been sexually abused by two priests from his school.
Dr Hogan said the man told him the first priest abused him in Year four, fondling him in the showers and again later that night.
He said the man told him the second priest, whom he later identified as Endicott, photographed him nude during a school hike during Year five.
Dr Hogan said the man also told him of being photographed and fondled by the second priest in Years eight and nine.
The alleged victim told him that in 1980, he had gone to another building away from the school, and there had been more photographing, abuse and touching by the priest.
Dr Hogan said years later the man told him of oral sexual abuse by Endicott.
He said the man, who had bipolar type two disorder, had been very depressed over the years.
The court heard Endicott’s alleged victim told the psychiatrist he had previously spent six months in a UK jail for having sex with a girl, 16, whom he had coached for swimming.
Dr Hogan was questioned by Endicott’s defence counsel about his knowledge of the alleged victim’s convictions for child pornography in Australia and the UK.
The psychiatrist said the man told him he had gone to an internet cafe, chosen a prominent computer and immediately went into a site showing child pornography.
He agreed that the man had told him he had offended in an obvious way, because he wanted to get caught.
Dr Hogan said the man had not told him he previously had been convicted of child pornography offences in England.
A friend of the alleged victim, another former Villanova College student, told the court how his friend told him at a pub in 1986 how a priest had interfered with him years earlier.
“I felt ‘My God. This is terrible’. I really felt for (his friend),’’ the witness told the court.
He said three or four years later his friend told him while he was on a bush walk, the priest took him down to a creek, asked him to take his clothes off and photographed him.
The trial is continuing.
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