BishopAccountability.org
	Accuser 'Horrified' at Meeting Priest Fermanagh Herald April 28, 2010 http://www.nwipp-newspapers.com/fh/free/332319271872478.php The evidence of the second witness claiming abuse by Father Lewis continued yesterday (Tuesday). Apart from encountering Father Lewis at the time when she began university in 1978, the witness said that she saw little of him in the intervening years. However, when she encountered him at the family home following her father's Months' Mind Mass in 2003, she said she experienced a 'whiplash of anger'. Despite this, she said she continued to be polite and didn't say anything to anyone. In 2007 she encountered him at a party her sister was hosting in honour of an African priest: "When I saw him there I was really horrified ... I realised I could not tolerate the situation whereby this man was coming in masquerading as a friend of the family. I was very on edge and contemplated leaving early but I was very fond of my sister and didn't. I realised I couldn't put up with him coming to family events any longer. I told my siblings that he should not be invited back." She said that when she learned that he was working in a girls' school in Belfast, and was also working in the community and had befriended a couple of families with young children, she realised that the situation had wider implications. "It came to me that he had no remorse, that he was purposely continuing to do this." Her elder sister confided to her that she had also been abused by the cleric. The defence sought to establish the juncture at which she told her sisters. The court had heard that during the period when the witness was thinking of reporting Father Lewis to the police, her sister had apparently, independently, lodged a complaint of her own. The defence barrister reiterated that Father Lewis denied every charge that he touched the witness sexually. The defence sought to discover how many bedrooms were in the house and when it was suggested that there may have been three, he stated, "You and two sisters were in one room, your parents were obviously in another. Where were the other five children?" The witness said that there had been a number of extensions added to the house over the years but could not remember when the extensions came into existence. Regarding the telling of stories to the children, defence counsel said that Father Lewis recalled telling the children stories in the kitchen and in the living room with children sitting around him. The witness agreed that he did tell stories in the kitchen and they were interesting and humorous. The defence counsel suggested, "Father Lewis never told a story to any of the children in the bedroom - your recollection is wrong." The witness asserted that her recollection was, "very clear, strong and causing me distress. I'm recalling it to the very best of my ability." Defence counsel asked if she had told her sister about where the cleric had touched her: "No I wouldn't have gone into that detail but I would have said about him touching me." Defence, "How many times would you have talked to your sister about what you say he did to you?" She replied "Discussion focused on what to do rather than what he had done." "Did you mention the location of where this abuse is alleged to have happened? Witness replied, "I couldn't categorically say that I said to her that this happened in the bedroom when he was telling a story." It is thought the case will run for several more days.
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