Inquiry Told Paedophile Priests Get Lighter Sentences

By Hamish Fitzsimmons
ABC - Lateline
November 12, 2012

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3631261.htm

[with video]

A victims support group has told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry that priests convicted of child sex offences are given lighter sentences than other offenders, and that no victims have been satisfied with the outcomes of the Catholic Church's own complaints process.

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: A Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the sexual abuse of children by religious orders has been told paedophile priests get lighter sentences than other convicted sex offenders.

The comments were made a by a victims' support group who also claimed no victims were satisfied with the outcomes of the Catholic Church's own complaints process.

From Melbourne, Hamish Fitzsimmons reports.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS, REPORTER: The Catholic Church has today been accused of failing to inform parents there were paedophile priests in their midst, a supporters group telling the inquiry parents and their children sometimes found out years later about the latent danger.

PAM KRSTIC, IN GOOD FAITH & ASSOCIATES: This information is vital to be given to parents of children who have been exposed to a paedophile. It could be the difference between life and death.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Good Faith & Associates was the latest organisation to give evidence to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry, also claiming that priests convicted of sex crimes appear to get lighter sentences than others in the community.

The support group cited the example of a priest who received a 10 and a half-year term for crimes against four teenage boys.

CLARE LEANEY, IN GOOD FAITH & ASSOCIATES: To which he pleaded guilty to three charges of buggery and 10 of indecent sexual assault. And if you compare that to a separate case where a judge was found guilty, he was sentenced to 25 years' jail, 18 of which were non-parole for six counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and three counts of indecent assault.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The group also told the inquiry the Church's internal processes for dealing with sexual abuse caused further harm and produced no satisfactory result.

HELEN LAST, IN GOOD FAITH & ASSOCIATES: Where is the person who can testify to the peace and joy and whatever, the restoration, the recovery? Where are they? Why aren't they storming your doors down? Why aren’t they out in the press? They don't exist.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Earlier a submission called for any time limits on compensation schemes for victims to be abolished, given it often takes years to report some crimes.

A legal academic says the schemes need to be open long enough to give victims time to make a considered decision.

JANE WANGMANN, UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY: It takes people a very long time to realise that they're going to make a claim. First up, they often haven't told their family their experiences. They then have to make a decision about whether they're going to go through the process. It becomes difficult to fill in the forms and suddenly the year's up. A year is completely unrealistic to think about in terms of that sort of process.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The victims group Good Faith says they're notified of new cases every week, the latest just this morning.

Hamish Fitzsimmons, Lateline