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	Melbourne Priest Charged with Sexual Assault By Nick Mckenzie and Rafael Epstein The Age June 4, 2010 http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-priest-charged-with-sexual-assault-20100603-x6y9.html A MELBOURNE priest, the subject of a ''mishandled'' internal Catholic Church inquiry, has been charged with sexual assault. Father Victor Farrugia has been charged on summons with eight counts of indecent assault. The police charges come as Melbourne's Archbishop Denis Hart has not yet detailed how the church will change its internal investigation process after systemic flaws were exposed by The Age and Victoria Police last year. In August, Father Farrugia's lawyers were inadvertently tipped off by the church's privately hired investigator, Peter O'Callaghan, QC, that police were investigating the priest for alleged sexual assault. Police believe Mr O'Callaghan ''mishandled'' communications with the priest's lawyers by providing the inadvertent tip-off. That left police unable to use several evidence-gathering methods in covert inquiries, including secretly recording the alleged victim phoning the priest. Despite this, officers gathered enough evidence to charge Father Farrugia last week. Police familiar with the case also believe that Mr O'Callaghan had given the alleged victim incorrect advice about whether the allegations represented sexual assault under criminal law. Mr O'Callaghan told the victim last year in writing that: ''Without seeking to dissuade you from reporting the matter to police if you so desire, I must say that the conduct you described is unlikely to be held by a court as criminal conduct.'' However, detectives have assessed the alleged conduct as worthy of criminal charges. Father Farrugia is parish priest at St Augustine's Church in Bourke Street in the city. The latest edition of the parish newsletter mentions that another priest is acting in Father Farrugia's ''absence'' and says ''we continue to keep Father Victor in our prayers''. The parish secretary denied those words were in the newsletter when asked by The Age yesterday. The Melbourne Archdiocese is yet to unveil changes to the ''Melbourne Response'', its clerical abuse handling process under which Mr O'Callaghan is appointed and paid to investigate clerical abuse allegations and refer victims to a compensation panel. The process has run since 1996 without review.. Changes to the Melbourne Response were requested by police after The Age last year exposed the inadvertent tip-offs to Father Farrugia and another priest, Paul Pavlou. Mr O'Callaghan told the priests' lawyers that they were under police investigation, without the consent of detectives, and before officers had interviewed the suspects. Mr O'Callaghan said yesterday he could not comment because charges had been laid. He has previously told The Age: ''I did not believe or had any apprehension that I would be jeopardising a police investigation.'' Last year, the Victoria Police's sexual crime squad chief, Detective Inspector Glenn Davies, told The Age it was important that the timing of a suspect being notified they were under investigation be left to police. ''It is advantageous that the suspect is unaware of the investigation until the police are in a position to interview them. This stops collusion between parties involved and ensures critical evidence is not destroyed.'' The church yesterday told The Age it could not comment because the matter was before the courts.
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