NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman has ordered the transcript of a controversial 2001 Newcastle trial against an Anglican priest after a Hunter child sexual abuse survivor described it as an “ambush”.

Steve Smith last week wrote to Mr Speakman seeking an apology from the State of NSW for a Newcastle District Court trial where three key people, including the judge, failed to disclose their associations with Newcastle Anglican Diocese.

The trial collapsed after the diocese belatedly produced a register that the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse would later note contained “a number of irregularities”.

But it was the late Judge Ralph Coolahan’s criticism of Mr Smith from the bench that shattered the man who the diocese now concedes was repeatedly sexually abused by priest George Parker in the early 1970s, from when he was just 10 years old.

In a statement on Monday Mr Speakman said he was “very sorry to read of what Mr Smith has suffered”, after Mr Smith forwarded a link to yesterday’s Newcastle Herald article detailing the 2001 trial that was explored by the royal commission during a Newcastle public hearing in 2016.

Judge Coolahan was highly critical of Mr Smith for the two-decade delay between the abuse and the trial, despite evidence Mr Smith had repeatedly reported the abuse to the church from 1975, and despite NSW law from 1981 requiring judges to direct juries that delayed complaint in sexual assault cases did not necessarily mean an allegation was false.

“So, (he has) waited 20 years… well, that is just ridiculous. It is truly ridiculous. The fact that someone is brought to trial, 26 years after an alleged offence, is in itself a disgrace,” Judge Coolahan said on the first day of the trial. When the case collapsed he again criticised Mr Smith from the bench for his “unsubstantiated allegations”.

Judge Coolahan did not disclose he had worked for the diocese as a lawyer in a matter several years before the trial, and Parker’s lawyers Keith Allen and Paul Rosser did not disclose they held significant positions in Newcastle Anglican diocese – in Mr Rosser’s case, deputy chancellor.

The royal commission described the judge’s comments as “intemperate and ill-conceived”, and noted that “reasonable minds may differ about whether it was appropriate for Judge Coolahan to recuse himself (from presiding at the Parker trial) on the basis of an appearance of bias” after acting for the diocese in a 1998 matter.

Mr Smith said the judge’s comments left him “powerless in that courtroom and it was as if I was that powerless kid being abused all over again”.

“The police were great, both back then and now, but it all came a cropper in the court. It was part of the apparatus that failed us, the justice system itself. I want an apology from the state for that, and I’m not letting this go,” Mr Smith said.   

In his statement on Monday Mr Speakman commended Mr Smith’s courage in advocating for survivors.

“NSW law recognises, as did the royal commission, the sad reality that many survivors of child sexual abuse are unable to report offending for many years after the events concerned,” Mr Speakman said.

“Judges must warn juries that delay in complaining doesn’t mean the allegations are false and that there may be good reasons why a victim of a sexual assault hesitated in making a complaint.”

Mr Speakman said he would respond to Mr Smith.

“I have requested a transcript of the proceedings at the Newcastle District Court in September 2001. I will respond to Mr Smith’s correspondence once I have reviewed that transcript.”

Mr Smith was the last person to give evidence at the royal commission. He has reached a settlement with Newcastle Anglican Diocese after taking legal action against it.

He said he was pleased that he had taken the first step towards seeking accountability from the justice system for events in 2001.