Archbishop Philip Wilson Will Face a Two-week Hearing in November on a Conceal Crime Charge

By Joanne McCarthy
Newcastle Herald
June 30, 2017

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4763390/november-hearing-for-archbishop/

the most senior Catholic cleric in the world to be charged with concealing the child sex offences of another priest – will face a two-week hearing in November.

Newcastle Local Court magistrate Ian Cheetham confirmed the November 27 special fixture hearing at Newcastle during a brief mention on Friday.

The matter is expected to be heard by a Hunter magistrate brought in for the hearing.

Confirmation of the date followed three unsuccessful appeals by Archbishop Wilson to have the charge against him quashed or permanently stayed.

He was charged in March, 2015 with failing to report information he knew or believed about Hunter priest James Fletcher to police between April 2004, when Fletcher was charged with child sex offences, and 2006 when Fletcher died in jail after his conviction.

Adelaide Archbishop Wilson, a former president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, has denied the allegation.

The Hunter-born priest is one of only a handful of Catholic clergymen in the world to be charged with concealing the child sex offences of another priest, and only the third in Australia after former school principal and fellow Maitland-Newcastle priest, the late Tom Brennan, became the first to face such a charge in 2012.

The hearing will consider evidence from a man who alleged that as a 10-year-old in 1971 he told the then Father Wilson that he had been indecently assaulted by Fletcher.

The court will also hear evidence from witnesses, including a priest, who will allege they told the archbishop in 1976 and 2004 that Fletcher sexually abused children.