Ballarat Hires Qc for Ronald Mulkearns in Pedophile Priest Case

By Tessa Akerman
The Australian
July 22, 2015

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The scandal-plagued Catholic Dio­cese of Ballarat has paid for a respected Victorian QC to intervene on behalf of its former ­bishop, Ronald Mulkearns, in a case against an alleged pedophile priest.

David Grace QC warned Geelong Magistrates Court against ­accepting the evidence of Bishop Mulkearns in its criminal proceedings against ­Robert Claffey, who is charged with historical sex offences. Magistrate John Lesser ordered that Bishop Mulkearns appear and give sworn evidence next week about the alleged pedophile activities of Mr Claffey, des­pite the objections of Mr Grace.

Bishop Mulkearns avoided ­giving evidence to the Victorian child-abuse inquiry following a report by a clinical neuropsychologist he had diminished capacity following a stroke in 1998.

Mr Grace said Bishop Mul­kearns could produce false memories when asked to recall events relating to the former priest.

The Geelong court heard an ­alleged teenage victim of Mr ­Claffey told his father of the abuse and that the father then went to Bishop Mulkearns.

This follows evidence heard by the royal commission in May that Bishop Mulkearns knew of Australia’s worst pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale’s offending and moved him from parish to parish in the western Victorian diocese of Ballarat without informing the police.