Concern over Nestor child abuse case

By Rashida Yosufzai
Courier-Mail
December 19, 2014

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/concern-over-nestor-child-abuse-case/story-fnihsfrf-1227162169993

A former priest had several complaints made about him even after his appeal on child abuse charges.

A FORMER priest who was provided with a character reference by Tony Abbott while he stood trial for sexually abusing an altar boy had further complaints made against him.

A REPORT by the royal commission into child abuse said those complaints justified "serious reservations and concern" about the danger John Gerard Nestor posed to children and his suitability for ministry.

Nestor was a priest in the Wollongong diocese in NSW when he was charged and convicted of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old altar boy in 1996. Mr Abbott, then a parliamentary secretary in the Howard government, described Nestor as a "beacon of humanity" in a character reference provided for his former seminary colleague. Nestor was later acquitted on appeal. However, the royal commission in a series of hearings this year heard evidence that further complaints were made against Nestor during his trial and soon after his appeal. Nestor was defrocked by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 - 12 years after he was charged with abuse. But even before his conviction, in the early 1990s, complaints were made about Nestor's conduct with boys. The report, published on Friday, was scathing of the lack of record-keeping by a Catholic priest who interviewed Nestor about the complaints. The lack of written notes ensured there were no evidence of admissions of criminal conduct, which protected Nestor and the church from criminal proceedings. Nestor did not appear before the inquiry. In an interview with AAP in 2013, he denied ever having slept on the same mattress with the altar boy - the central allegation in the case against him.