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	Family Priest Was Doing Things I Didn't Like, Court Told By David Marr Sydney Morning Herald November 4, 2010 http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/family-priest-was-doing-things-i-didnt-like-court-told-20101103-17e1h.html Brian Spillane put his hands around the throat of a 12-year-old girl before indecently assaulting her in her family's kitchen, the District Court in Sydney has been told. The first of four complainants has begun giving evidence in the trial of the former priest Brian Joseph Spillane who faces 11 charges of indecent assault on girls as young as six. His defence counsel, Philip Boulten, SC, said this incident in a Moree kitchen in the 1970s was "totally denied". The priest, who taught the girl's brothers at a Catholic boarding school in Bathurst, had come to stay at the family home for a few days while her father was away, the complainant said. Her father had health problems. Her mother was active in the local parish. Advertisement: Story continues below When the priest asked her to "give him a cuddle" she sat on his lap. But she jumped up when he put his hand "very forcefully" between her legs. He then forced her towards the stove. "I was very frightened. He was then pushing into my bottom from behind. I was frozen with fear." She said he stopped when the screen door banged shut and her sister came into the kitchen. She told the jury that within weeks or months she had told her brother Mr Spillane "was pushing me and doing things I didn't like and I was very frightened". The complainant, now in her 40s, admitted that some of the surrounding facts were hazy in her memory after all these years. "I suggest it didn't happen at all," Mr Boulten said. "Yes it did," she replied. Also giving evidence was her brother who was unable to recall exactly what his sister had told him at the time. "I might be a bit vague on dates and times but the words she said have stuck in my mind all my life," he said. A second complainant against Mr Spillane is expected to give evidence today.
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