Richard John Cattell: Former St Bernadette’s Castle Hill priest sentenced over historical child sex abuse
A former priest in northwest Sydney has faced judgment more than four decades after he led a 13-year-old altar boy to his bedroom where he indecently assaulted him.
Hills Shire
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Former St Bernadette’s Catholic Church parish priest Richard John Cattell, who led a 13-year-old altar boy to his bedroom where he indecently assaulted him, has been sentenced to jail for historic child sex offences that he carried out with a “degree of planning’’ at the Castle Hill parish.
Cattell, 80, pleaded guilty to three counts of indecently assaulting a child after historic charges of the altar boy occurred from January 1974 to October 1975.
Parramatta District Court heard on Monday that after meeting the boy’s dysfunctional family, the boy’s mother — invited him to attend the family home for dinner.
Shortly after, the priest offered to “help’’ the mother by inviting the victim to stay at the presbytery where the teen was asked to follow him to his bedroom.
The court heard it was there that he was forced to watch the priest masturbate before making the victim do the same.
“The victim felt disgusting and confused by the incident,’’ Judge Stephen Hanley said.
The incidents occurred three times from when the victim was 13 and the offender 34, incidents that took a “degree of planning’’.
“On each of these occasions the victim would masturbate the offender and the offender would masturbate the victim,’’ Justice Hanley said.
He told the court Cattell breached the trust of the boy’s family, which, like many Catholic households in the 1970s, invited the priest into their home.
“The position he held in relation to the community was one of respect and allowed him access to family homes, which was quite frequent,’’ he said.
“It was abundantly clear that it was a troubled family.’’
The victim suffered from epilepsy and had behavioural problems — something the priest took advantage of in a “premeditated, predatory’’ way that was a “charade of care and kindness’’, Justice Hanley said.
“The victim was highly susceptible and I’m satisfied the offender would have been aware of this.
“He was clearly a troubled young man and no doubt his mother was provided some form of assistance by the offender looking to care for him. It was a gross breach of trust not only to the victim’s family but also his parishioners.
“He abused his position as parish priest to gain access to a parishioner.’’
At a previous sentence hearing, the victim’s partner read aloud a victim impact statement on his behalf and told the court the abuse had a profound negative impact on his life.
“I have difficulty trusting people because I was scared of being taken advantage of.
“What he did affected my ability to have a normal education and childhood.’’
Justice Hanley said he found Cattell to be remorseful and had low risk of reoffending, largely because of his age and health problems, which include type 2 diabetes, hearing impairment, anxiety, depressing and an ailing memory.
He was sentenced to 12 months in jail and is eligible for parole in April 2021.
Cattell — who once held the senior position of vicar general at the Parramatta Diocese and quit the priesthood in 1994 — appeared at the judgement via video in custody where he is in the middle of a 30-month sentence for child sex abuse.
Last July, he was sentenced to 30 months in jail for historical child sex abuse. Penrith District Court heard that between 1968 and 1991 Cattell sexually assaulted five victims — aged between six and 16 — including four boys and a girl.
He was charged with three counts of indecent assault, two counts of sexual assault, one count of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 10 and one count of aggravated indecent assault at several churches, including Catholic parishes at St Marys, Lakemba and Windsor.
Cattell entered a seminary to study since he was 17 before being ordained as a priest in 1964.