Priest Accused of Child Sex Abuse in Nsw May Face Retrial, Hearing Told

By Australian Associated Press
The Guardia
August 4, 2016

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/04/priest-accused-of-child-sex-abuse-in-nsw-may-face-retrial-hearing-told

The alleged victim of the Anglican priest told the royal commission in Newcastle he would never recover from the impact of the church’s response. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

An Anglican priest accused of child sex abuse 15 years ago may face a retrial, a royal commission has been told.

The trial against the priest, given the pseudonym CKC, fell over when his defence team, made up of prominent church people, produced a register showing that the abuse could not have happened when the complainant said it did.

CKA, the man who alleged serious prolonged abuse by the priest, told a hearing of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Newcastle on Thursday he would never recover from the impact of the church’s response, which was to throw its full weight behind the priest who ruined his life, he said.

“I cannot get over the sheer frustration of dealing with bishops and clergy who, I believe, knew full well what CKC was doing and did nothing,” CKA said as he outlined how at every turn he was met by a wall of friends all focused on supporting one another.

CKA, now 55, said his family life revolved around the church. He was 10 years old in 1971 when he met parish priest CKC.

For four years the priest molested him in ways that included oral sex and anal rape, CKA told the commission. CKA also alleges that CKC then began to molest his younger brother CKB.

CKA recalled his anger in 1977 when CKC was allowed to give a sermon at the funeral of his mother. His mother had reported the abuse to Bishop Ian Shevill before she died.

“It upset me terribly that the church degraded our family by allowing CKC to officiate at her funeral,” CKA said.

He catalogued how when he rang an Anglican sex abuse helpline, the phone was answered by Graeme Lawrence, the dean of Newcastle Cathedral who was himself a suspected child abuser and a colleague of CKC.

When CKC was reported to police in 2000 and brought to trial, his legal team consisted of Paul Rosser QC, who was deputy chancellor of the diocese, and solicitor Keith Allen, who was also heavily involved with the church.

They used CKA’s calls to the helpline in evidence and the fact he had sought psychiatric help to argue he was unstable.

When they produced a register that recorded CKC’s movements at the time of the alleged abuse, the prosecution told CKA they would not be pressing ahead with the trial, which had run for only two days.

The church then put out a statement that CKC had been acquitted, which was not true, he said.

Ian Temby, representing the state of New South Wales, has asked the commission not to identify CKC because it could prejudice a potential retrial.

The commission is considering the application.