Priest Admits Lust Drove Him to Sex with Angelika, Glasgow Evening Times [Scotland], April 6, 2007

Priest Admits Lust Drove Him to Sex with Angelika

Glasgow Evening Times [Scotland]
April 6, 2007

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.1313346.0.priest_admits_lust_drove_him_to_sex_with_angelika.php

A Glasgow priest admitted his "lustfulness" led him to have sex with Angelika Kluk.

Father Gerry Nugent told the High Court in Edinburgh he took full responsibility for his affair with the 23-year-old Polish student.

He said: "It was my weakness, my lustfulness."

He was giving evidence at the trial of Peter Tobin, 60, who is accused of raping and murdering Angelika and hiding her body under the floor at St Patrick's Church in Anderston last September. He denies all the charges.

Father Gerry Nugent gave details of his affair with Angelika Kluk

Defence QC Donald Findlay asked the priest who instigated the relationship with Angelika, or whether it just happened.

Father Gerry replied: "I can only speak for myself and I take full responsibility for this part of the relationship.

"It was the culmination of kissing.

"It was my weakness, my lustfulness, and that is what I mean when I say I take full responsibility."

As reported in late editions of last night's Evening Times, Father Gerry was branded a "despicable coward" and a liar for claiming to police Angelika had seduced him.

He had earlier told the court of his shame and self-disgust over their relationship, which began in the summer of 2005.

The jury heard that after Angelika's death he told police a different story.

Mr Findlay asked him: "You are not in any way suggesting, here on oath, that this girl instigated it, she was somehow the driving force?"

Father Gerry agreed it was "a mutual thing".

Mr Findlay added: "If anybody then sought to blame a girl who could not speak for herself, it would be a despicable act by a despicable individual and coward and a liar.

"Who am I talking about Father Nugent?" The priest replied: "You are talking about me."

Mr Findlay read from a statement Father Gerry gave to police on October 1 last year, in which the priest told how he and Angelika were close and would kiss when they passed each other in the chapel house at St Patrick's, where she had been staying.

The statement said: "I was very fond of her and cared about her but I was not intensely attracted to her. She felt more strongly about me than I did about her and it was she who pushed everything. It was not me."

Father Gerry agreed the statement differed from his evidence in court.

Earlier, he told the court how their affair blossomed in the chapel house. He said he seldom went into her room and always knocked.

"On the night it happened she invited me in. I sat down and it happened. We began to kiss seriously and it led to sexual activity," he said.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

Father Gerry no longer gave a damn about her'

The trial also heard the day after Angelika was reported missing, Father Gerry called Catholic press officer Simon Dames to St Patrick's.

The priest said he could not remember the meeting.

Mr Findlay told how Mr Dames later gave a statement to police in which he said Father Gerry told him he "no longer gave a damn about her".

"I cannot remember saying those words," said the priest. "I probably said it when I had a drink."

Mr Findlay asked the priest to explain why when Angelika's sister, Aneta, 28, and married lover Martin Macaskill, 40, were desperately looking for the student he didn't show more concern.

"No need to give a damn because you knew she was dead," suggested the lawyer.

"I know nothing about the circumstances of Angela's death. I was anxious. I was hoping they would find her," the priest replied.