Nsw Police Charge Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson in Sex Abuse Case

By Sounak Mukhopadhyay
International Business Times
March 17, 2015

http://au.ibtimes.com/nsw-police-charge-adelaide-archbishop-philip-wilson-sex-abuse-case-1430277

IN PHOTO: A Christian holds a candle during a vigil to show solidarity with the nun who was raped during an armed assault on a convent school, in New Delhi March 16, 2015. Christians in India said on Monday that the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not done enough to protect their religion, after a spate of attacks including the rape of the 75-year-old nun at the weekend. Christians prayed and held vigils across the country to protest against the rape during an armed assault on a convent school, the worst in a series of incidents that followers of the faith say are making them feel unwelcome in their own country. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee

New South Wales Police have charged Adelaide Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson with concealing child sexual abuse. This is related to the offences committed by Jim Fletcher, the Hunter region paedophile priest, who worked with Wilson in the ‘70s.

According to NSW Police, the investigation is a part of its operation “Strike Force Lantle”. It said that the operation, launched in 2010, there were serious allegations against clergy "formerly and currently attached to the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese of the Catholic Church" of serious child abuse offences. Police have accused 64-year-old Wilson of concealing a serious offence. According to police, Wilson failed to report a case of child sex abuse allegedly committed by Fletcher.

Wilson is scheduled to appear the Newcastle Local Court on Apr. 30. He issued a statement announcing that he was taking leave from his position as he had been notified of the charges against him. The former Bishop of Wollongong was known as a "healing bishop" there because of the way he had handled child-abuse controversies.

Wilson also said in the statement that he would "vigorously defend his innocence." "The suggestion appears to be that I failed to bring to the attention of police a conversation I am alleged to have had in 1976, when I was a junior priest, that a now deceased priest had abused a child," he said in the statement, “I intend to vigorously defend my innocence through the judicial system and I have retained senior counsel, Mr Ian Temby AO, who will represent me in respect of it."

Wilson “reaffirmed” his “commitment to dealing proactively with the issue of child sexual abuse and the implementation of best-practice child protection measures which he had pioneered since becoming a bishop." He said that he had first come to know about the allegations in 2014 and “completely denied" those.

Peter Gogarty, one of Fletcher’s victims, said that it was a “very, very important day for Australia.” He said that charging someone from such a high position was “enormously significant.” According to him, everyone in Australia is “entitled to the presumption of innocence.” However, he said that it was a substantial move that the legal system of the country had decided to charge someone that senior.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au