By Dylan Welch
Brisbane Times
August 15, 2009
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/cyber-seduction-sting-snares-priest-20090814-el7a.html
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| Charged...Father Robert Fuller. |
THE senior priest at one of Sydney's largest Catholic parishes has been charged after a police sting in which he allegedly groomed a 13-year-old girl for sex over the internet, only to discover the girl was an undercover detective.
Father Robert Macgregor Fuller, the 54-year-old parish priest for the All Saints Catholic Parish at Liverpool and the religious leader for four local Catholic schools, is alleged to have contacted a detective who was masquerading as a 13-year-old girl on a web chat program.
After a three-week cyber seduction - allegedly involving Father Fuller using a web camera to film himself engaging in sexually explicit acts - he was arrested and charged on Thursday.
The charges relate to 25 conversations between Father Fuller and the undercover police officer on the Yahoo7 Messenger online chat program.
Yesterday afternoon, parents waiting outside the primary school in his parish were gathered in small groups, talking and shaking their heads, as they learnt the detail of Father Fuller's alleged transgression.
''I went to Mass this morning and the priest was saying, 'Please pray for Father Robert,' and I wondered what's wrong with him,'' one parent, who did not want to be named, said.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Kai Penninkilampi opposed Father Fuller's bail application at a hearing at Parramatta Local Court yesterday morning.
''This is a clear abuse of a position of authority within the church, particularly as the defendant is in a position of having unfettered access to [children],'' the prosecutor told the court.
In a police document tendered during the hearing, it was alleged that Father Fuller used two names during the conversations - ''rr'' and ''rogers-2468''.
The accused masturbated in front of a web camera and encouraged the ''girl'' to perform sexual acts, the document stated.
Eventually a meeting was arranged for Thursday at a Parramatta park and Father Fuller was arrested in a nearby car park.
The Liverpool parish for which Father Fuller was responsible, All Saints, runs four schools - a senior high school, two colleges for boys and girls in years 7 to 10, and a primary school.
A priest for more than three decades, he was recently quoted in a local paper speaking about last year's World Youth Day festivities.
''It's been amazing to have so many positive young people here every day, happy to receive the message and learn more about their faith,'' he said.
Magistrate Peter Miszalski granted Father Fuller bail at yesterday's court hearing, but required he be supervised, not use the internet and not approach children or places where they congregate.
The Archdiocese of Sydney, which yesterday stood Father Fuller down from his position and removed him from his parish pending the outcome of the court proceedings, offered a holiday unit in Terrigal on the Central Coast for Father Fuller while he goes through the courts.
The archdiocese also posted a $25,000 surety on his behalf. His case will next be heard at the same court on October 8.
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