Vic Priest to Stand Trial for 1970s Abuse

By Genevieve Gannon
Sydney Morning Herald
June 26, 2013

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/vic-priest-to-stand-trial-for-1970s-abuse-20130626-2owkk.html

AAP

A man remained silent for almost 40 years until a Victorian priest he says sexually abused him was asked to conduct his aunt's funeral.

When the victim's sister told him she had tracked down the priest to officiate at their aunt's funeral in 2010, he said he couldn't go, according to documents tendered in a Melbourne court.

"If he's going to the funeral, then I can't go," the victim told his sister.

He had done odd jobs at the priest's house as a teenager in the 1970s to earn pocket money, according to a statement he made to police.

The now-retired Catholic priest, who cannot be named, pleaded not guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one count of buggery of a person under 14 in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The man, now 87, said the victim's aunt had asked him to have a word with the boy about puberty, according to the transcript of his interview with police.

"Whether he thought that might be a 'come on' or something, I don't know," he told police.

"I just explained things about puberty."

The victim told police the priest had raised subjects that made him uncomfortable when they sat and talked after he did his chores.

"At the end of these talks (the accused) ... would tell me to kneel beside his chair and face him then take confession," the victim told police.

"I remember finding this strange as I thought this is what you went to church for."

On his last visit the priest was wearing only a dressing gown and tried to kiss the victim.

The priest later took the victim into a bedroom where he assaulted him, the victim said in court documents.

The priest has been committed to stand trial in the Victorian County Court with a directions hearing scheduled for July 16.