AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury
By ELLE WATSON July 16, 2013
A Branxton primary school principal denies Michael Malone warned him about paedophile priest James Fletcher in 2002, telling the special commission of inquiry he was not at the school on the day the bishop claims to have met him.
Returning to the witness box for the second week, the former bishop of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese, Michael Malone (pictured), was adamant that he met with William Callinan at St Brigid’s in Branxton on June 20, 2002, and told him to keep the priest away from students.
He told the inquiry he met with Mr Callinan after Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox informed him Fletcher had been accused of sexually abusing a boy and requested he be stood down.
Under brief cross-examination, Mr Callinan’s counsel, William Potter, suggested to Bishop Malone he did not meet with Mr Callinan in 2002 and falsified a diary entry about the meeting when the NSW Ombudsman’s Office informed him it would be investigating how the church dealt with Fletcher.
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