Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson May Have Empathised with Victim's Father Who "Wanted to Kill" Paedophile Priest, Court Hears

By Giselle Wakatama
ABC News
April 12, 2018

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-12/catholic-archbishop-philip-wilson-trial-continues-in-newcastle/9644816

PHOTO: The Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson is accused of concealing child sexual abuse by priest Jim Fletcher. (AAP: Dan Himbrecht)

The Archbishop of Adelaide has told a court he may have empathised with a victim's father, who said he "wanted to kill" a paedophile priest.

Archbishop Philip Wilson is accused of covering up the child sexual abuse of Father Jim Fletcher in the New South Wales Hunter Valley in this 1970s.

At Newcastle Local Court today, prosecutors alleged Archbishop Wilson spoke with the father of one of Fletcher's victims, who said: "If I had a gun, I would kill him."

The court was told the Archbishop replied: "I wouldn't blame you."

That exchange is alleged to have taken place in 2004, a year before Fletcher was sentenced to 10 years in prison for child sexual offences. He died in jail.

Archbishop Wilson, 67, told the court he could have said that to the victim's father, as "I could understand how he would feel".

A different survivor of child sexual abuse, Peter Creigh, is central to the prosecution's case.

Mr Creigh claims he told the Archbishop, who was then an assistant priest in Maitland-Newcastle Diocese, about his abuse at the hands of Fletcher in 1976.

He claimed the Archbishop told him he "should be ashamed of himself for lying" and ordered him to "say 10 Hail Marys".

The court also heard about another victim who complained of abuse in 2004.

Archbishop Wilson told the court he visited the second victim's family at the time, ahead of Fletcher's trial.

Crown prosecutor Gareth Harrison alleged he went there because he was curious about what the survivor intended to do about his allegations.

"You wanted to know what [the complainant's] intentions were to position yourself in the best light," Mr Harrison said.

Archbishop Wilson rejected those claims, and said he "went there to check on the family to see how they were".

"They told me they were having difficulty and I went to respond to their difficulties and had no self interest in relation to visiting them," Archbishop Wilson said.

The trial continues.