SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland
Gerry Braiden
Senior reporter
LAWYERS for the Catholic Church have been accused of moving to block court action by an alleged victim of a priest dismissed by the Vatican over sexual abuse allegations.
The Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh’s legal team has applied for a court hearing in an attempt to have the compensation case against Thomas Mullen time-barred from proceeding.
Although an out-of-court settlement remains likely, it is expected the lawyers will essentially use the preliminary hearing to try to argue that because the abuse took place some years ago they are unable to investigate the allegations against Mr Mullen.
However, representatives of his alleged victim have claimed that since the Vatican investigated and disciplined Mr Mullen, it was “odd” that similar inquiries could not take place in a civil action in Scotland.
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