By James Simons-
Child sex abuse was not considered a serious crime in the 1970s, and was not worthy of being reported to authorities, an Australian archbishop’s lawyers have argued.
The argument was presented as Archbishop Philip Wilson was convicted of concealing child sex abuse by a fellow priest in the 1970’s.
The 67-year-old archbishop of Adelaide was found guilty of having concealed the abuse of altar boys by a pedophile priest colleague, James Fletcher, in the 1970s, when he was an assistant parish priest in the state of New South Wales.
Wilson argued that the case was circumstantial and there was no evidence to prove the archbishop was told about the abuse, believed it was true, or remembered being told about it.
More conspicuous was the argument presented by defending lawyer, Stephen Odgers, that the magistrate take into account that in the 1970s a priest having sex with a boy was not considered a serious indictable offence, the legal basis for the concealment charge against Wilson.
Mr Odgers told the court the abuse would have been viewed as an act of indecency, not indecent assault, if the victim could not prove he had been forced to perform sex acts.
The suggestion then seems to be that people were more depraved in the 70’s than they are today. It is quite frankly a load of rubbish astonishingly being presented to Magistrates in the hope they accepted the garbage argument. Abuse has never been considered lightly by decent people or the law, only extreme perverts and paedophile have ever held a view that abuse against a child can be considered not very serious.
Archbishop Wilson was a junior priest when Fletcher, a Catholic Priest based in the Hunter Valley of NSW, abused altar boys. Wilson was charged in 2015, accused of failing to report Fletcher’s abuse to police.
Fletcher died in prison in 2006, a year after being found guilty of eight counts of child abuse and sentenced to 10 years.
Outside the Newcastle Court on Tuesday, one of Fletcher’s victims praised the Archbishop’s conviction. mer altar boy Peter Creigh, who waived his right to a non-publication order on his name, said, “It’s a decision that will hopefully unravel the hypocrisy, the deceit, and the abuse of power and trust that the Church has displayed. And I say that on behalf of all victims, because it is a very, very significant day.”
Creigh told the court he had described the abuse to Wilson in detail, five years after it took place, the ABC reported.
Wilson faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison when he is sentenced in June.
The President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) said the safety of children is “paramount” for the church and it was not yet clear if the Archbishop planned to appeal the verdict.
“The Catholic Church, like other institutions, has learned a great deal about the tragedy of child sexual abuse and has implanted stronger programs, policies, and procedures to protect children and vulnerable adults,” ACBC President Archbishop Mark Coleridge said in a statement.
In December 2017, a Royal Commission in Australia made recommendations that the Vatican should move to change ancient canon laws in order to reduce future risk of sexual abuse.
The recommendations included making celibacy voluntary for priests and making mandatory reporting of abuse to police if an admission is made during confession.
The inquiry heard that 7% of Catholic priests working in Australia between 1950 and 2010 had been accused of child sex crimes and that more than 1,000 people had filed child sexual assault claims against the Anglican Church over 35 years.
A statement issued by the church on Wednesday read: Wilson said he was “obviously disappointed” with the verdict.
“I will now have to consider the reasons and consult closely with my lawyers to determine the next steps … I do not propose to make any further comment at this stage,” he added.
Magistrate Robert Stone told the court that Wilson had concealed the abuse of two altar boys in the Hunter Valley region, north of Sydney, by Fletcher by failing to report the allegations to police.
Mr Stone said he was satisfied one of the altar boys, Peter Creigh, had been a “truthful and reliable” witness.
Wilson is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease claims his memory is assisted by medication. He told the court last month during his trial he could not remember Mr Creigh and another altar boy telling him in 1976 they were abused by Fletcher.