Priest: No Sexual Intent in Wrestles

By Courtney Garnham
Maitland Herald
May 24, 2012

http://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/priest-no-sexual-intent-in-wrestles/2566928.aspx


A Hunter priest facing eight child sexual assault charges told a Sydney District Court jury there had been no sexual intent when he wrestled with young boys.

He responded with an adamant "no" when his barrister asked numerous times if he had acted inappropriately toward the four alleged victims.

The accused recalled extraordinary details of the past, using anecdotes of times when he had interacted with a number of boys while he was at university and training to become a priest.

He said wrestling with boys would take place after almost every football game they played and would start with three or four boys hanging off him.

The priest made reference to one of the alleged victim's statements which alleged his head touched the boy's testicles while they were wrestling.

He admitted it was difficult to control body placement during a wrestle or a rumble.

"If my head touched his testicles while we were wrestling, then it was simply part of the wrestle," he said.

"Well, wrestling is wrestling; it is very hard to control people being thrown around and pinned down.

"There is absolutely no intent whatsoever, with my wrestling, of a sexual nature – never considered it."

He said wrestling was just "fun and laughter".

"One of the big thrills for them [the boys] was to get me down [on the ground]," he said.

"There were plenty of stacks on out on the football field.

"It was all just part of the fun."

But he denied wrestling with any of the boys in the way they had described during the trial.

He disagreed with some of their statements which said he had wrestled with them alone.

"I don't remember wrestling with [one of the alleged victims] on his own; I could have, but I don't remember," he said.

He also told the jury he did not remember two of the alleged victims at all, saying, "I just have no memory" of one in particular.

The church grounds were the children's playground, he told the court, especially during the school holidays when they regularly came to play there.

But he said he did not have access to the church while he was away studying for two years and he mostly only came home during the holidays.

The trial continues.