No Sex, Just Wrestling, Says Priest
By Joanne McCarthy
A CATHOLIC priest has denied being sexually aroused by wrestling bouts with young boys, telling a court any contact between his face and a boy's testicles was unintended. It was "simply part of the wrestling", the priest said yesterday as his trial on eight sexual abuse charges involving four boys entered its third week. The priest, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including indecently assaulting the four boys and unlawfully detaining one of them at a Hunter location for a short period during an alleged indecent assault. The priest denied wrestling the boys on concrete in a playing field, and in churches and rooms on Catholic properties. He told a Sydney District Court he did not have time to commit offences during a period when he was completing a university degree, working in part-time jobs and undergoing spiritual studies. The court heard evidence that the priest spent some of his leisure time with young boys and teenagers, and was involved in youth work at parishes where he worked. The boys and teenagers enjoyed activities with him, and particularly wrestling, he said. During wrestling games, the priest, in his 20s, would sometimes end up on the ground with boys on top of him, the court was told. "One of the big thrills for them was to get me down. It was all just part of the fun," he said. During earlier evidence several men have described feeling the priest's erect penis during wrestling games. The priest told the court he organised a number of camps away with young boys and teenagers, including a camp where he went away with one boy, with the mother's consent. He denied being in a shower with young boys during one of the camps, saying he was too involved with packing the bus to supervise the boys in the shower. The trial continues.
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