(AUSTRALIA)
News Corp Australia [Sydney, New South Wales, Australia]
September 28, 2021
By Frances Vinall
A horrific paedophile priest could go out of his mind with rage, a potential new witness wants to tell a murder inquest.
A new witness who suffered at the hands of a paedophile priest wants to give evidence in an inquest into the bookshop murder of Thornbury mum Maria James.
The man wants to tell the Coroners Court about abuse he suffered at the hands of Father Thomas O’Keeffe, who is a person of interest in Mrs James’ brutal murder.
Mrs James’s body was found stabbed 68 times in the bedroom behind her High Street bookshop on June 17, 1980.
A new witness who suffered at the hands of a paedophile priest wants to give evidence in an inquest into the bookshop murder of Thornbury mum Maria James.
The man wants to tell the Coroners Court about abuse he suffered at the hands of Father Thomas O’Keeffe, who is a person of interest in Mrs James’ brutal murder.
Mrs James’s body was found stabbed 68 times in the bedroom behind her High Street bookshop on June 17, 1980.
The man will tell the court that Fr O’Keeffe sexually abused him when he was a child, threatened him with a kitchen knife, and told him he would kill his mother if the victim said a word, lawyer Chris Winneke QC said on Tuesday.
Reading the man’s statement, Mr Winneke said Fr O’Keeffe could be “just demonic” and “out of his mind with rage”, and was called “creeping Jesus” by children in the parish.
The court has heard Fr O’Keeffe and another priest, Fr Anthony Bongiorno, sexually abused Mrs James’s son Adam, who was 11 when she was killed.
Adam James told his mother about Fr Bongiorno’s abuse before the murder and she planned to confront the parish, the court has heard.
Coroner Caitlin English directed police to take a statement from the man about his experience read by Mr Winneke to be included in the inquest.
There are six persons of interest in the murder case, including Fr Bongiorno, Fr O’Keeffe, and convicted killer Peter Keogh, who lived in the area.
Earlier on Tuesday, a former homicide detective questioned why police didn’t vet Keogh’s alibi more thoroughly in their initial investigation.
Keogh’s girlfriend at the time, Judy McNulty, told police in 1980 he was with her at the time of the murder.
But the court heard this week from Ms McNulty’s sister that she was lying and “terrified” of Keogh.
A new witness who suffered at the hands of a paedophile priest wants to give evidence in an inquest into the bookshop murder of Thornbury mum Maria James.
The man wants to tell the Coroners Court about abuse he suffered at the hands of Father Thomas O’Keeffe, who is a person of interest in Mrs James’ brutal murder.
Mrs James’s body was found stabbed 68 times in the bedroom behind her High Street bookshop on June 17, 1980.
The man will tell the court that Fr O’Keeffe sexually abused him when he was a child, threatened him with a kitchen knife, and told him he would kill his mother if the victim said a word, lawyer Chris Winneke QC said on Tuesday.
Reading the man’s statement, Mr Winneke said Fr O’Keeffe could be “just demonic” and “out of his mind with rage”, and was called “creeping Jesus” by children in the parish.
The court has heard Fr O’Keeffe and another priest, Fr Anthony Bongiorno, sexually abused Mrs James’s son Adam, who was 11 when she was killed.
Adam James told his mother about Fr Bongiorno’s abuse before the murder and she planned to confront the parish, the court has heard.
Coroner Caitlin English directed police to take a statement from the man about his experience read by Mr Winneke to be included in the inquest.
There are six persons of interest in the murder case, including Fr Bongiorno, Fr O’Keeffe, and convicted killer Peter Keogh, who lived in the area.
Earlier on Tuesday, a former homicide detective questioned why police didn’t vet Keogh’s alibi more thoroughly in their initial investigation.
Keogh’s girlfriend at the time, Judy McNulty, told police in 1980 he was with her at the time of the murder.
But the court heard this week from Ms McNulty’s sister that she was lying and “terrified” of Keogh.
Former detective Graham Ashfield said it wasn’t unusual for violent men to intimidate those close to them.
“You’re relying on an alibi of a woman who is basically his de facto, and is that really something that you would rely upon, with a man of violence?” he said.
“They’re likely to say anything that that person wants them to say.
“I found that somewhat unusual that (the alibi) was not pursued further.”
Keogh later attacked Ms McNulty with a knife, and was jailed for less than four years for killing another ex-girlfriend, Vicki Cleary, with a knife in 1987.
The inquest continues.