Victims Accused of Lying As Church ‘protected Pedophile Priest’

By Dan Box
The Australian
April 9, 2016

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The victims of a pedophile Catholic priest have told a court he was protected by the church, who accused the children of lying about their abuse, allowing him to keep committing crimes.

John Joseph Farrell, also known as ‘‘Father F’’, appeared in Sydney’s District Court yesterday, after being found guilty of 62 offences involving sexual ­assaults on 12 victims during the 1980s.

Farrell operated “with complete immunity as an ongoing representative of, and with the protection and facilitation from, the Australian Catholic Church”, one victim told the court. “In fact, the church denied the allegations against Farrell, protected Farrell ... and stated the allegations were completely preposterous and outright lies.

“I was made to feel as if it was all my fault. Meanwhile, I had lost my innocence, my youth.”

The majority of those Farrell assaulted were altar boys in the Moree parish in northern NSW, the court heard.

Farrell left the parish after senior church officials were warned of his behaviour and was appointed as a priest elsewhere. In the early 90s, he was appointed to a parish in western Sydney, where he abused an altar boy.