Act Fast on Nsw Pedophile Priest: Court

7 News
May 29, 2013

http://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/latest/a/-/article/17374032/act-fast-on-nsw-pedophile-priest-court/

Civil action against a convicted pedophile priest needs to be expedited because witnesses could die before the case is heard, a Sydney Supreme Court judge has been told.

Brother Thomas Grealy, a principal of the Patrician Brothers primary school in Granville in the 1970s, was convicted and jailed in 1997 for the rape of a 10-year-old student.

He is now being sued by two men who allege he sexually abused them when they were children.

The action against Grealy, the trustees of the school and the archdiocese of Sydney was lodged in 2010 and has yet to be heard, although the case against the archdiocese was dismissed in 2011.

Tony Bartley SC, representing the alleged victims, said some witnesses, including the father of one of the men, were now elderly.

Grealy himself is now 84.

Mr Bartley said it was important that witnesses give evidence before they "die or become infirm so they can't be cross-examined", the court heard on Wednesday.

The father would give evidence he had complained to the school about Grealy before the sexual assaults occurred, Mr Bartley added.

"We could go to trial next week," he said.

The matter will return to court on Thursday.