Judge Heckled before Excusing Former Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson from Fronting Court
By Giselle Wakatama
A Newcastle judge has been heckled and abuse survivors left outraged after the former Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson was excused from attending an appeals court judgement in relation to him covering up child abuse. Wilson, 68, has appealed his conviction for concealing child sex abuse that occurred in the Hunter region of New South Wales in the 1970s. He is currently serving a minimum sentence of six months home detention. The local court found that in 1976 the victim, Peter Creigh, confided in Wilson that he had been sexually abused, yet Wilson failed to report it to police when Jim Fletcher was charged with other child sex offences in 2004. Newcastle District Court Judge Roy Ellis will make a decision on the appeal next week. Wilson excused from attending appeals judgement Wilson has repeatedly been confronted by large media packs each time he has attended the Newcastle courthouse. His defence team has raised concerns about his ill health, which includes cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Today his barrister, Stephen Odgers asked if his client can be excused by Judge Ellis when he hands down his judgment next Thursday. "There are some concerns in relation to him appearing," Mr Odgers said. "My friend [the Crown] has indicated she would not object to him not appearing." Judge Ellis gave his thoughts. "It does go against the grain a little bit, but I would be more than happy for him to appear electronically," the judge said. "Obviously he would like to be avoiding a media scrum and no doubt there are other issues." Abuse survivors and their families were outraged, calling for Wilson to be brought to the court house to learn his fate. Judge Ellis said arrangements could be made for him to join proceedings via a smartphone connection or via Audio Visual Link at a courthouse or police station. Judge said Archbishop had an open mind The court has heard Wilson could have had a reasonable excuse for not reporting child sex allegations about Mr Creigh. The Crown rejected the claim and stressed there was no excuse. Judge Ellis spent the morning listening to further submissions from Crown Prosecutor Helen Roberts and Defence Barrister Stephen Odgers. Judge Ellis repeatedly said the Archbishop had an open mind and gave consistent evidence. "He sat on the fence and kept an open mind about it and there is no evidence that he ever did anything different," the judge said. He also took aim at conclusions made by the sentencing local court magistrate, Robert Stone. "I respect the magistrate, he is a good magistrate," Judge Ellis said. "But that doesn't mean to say that I can't reach a different conclusion." Judge heckled for comments deemed insensitive The issue of memory was raised repeatedly, with Mr Odgers questioning whether child sex victim Peter Creigh clearly communicated he had been indecently assaulted during a conversation with Wilson in 1976. "Sometimes we have this lay belief that we do have these infallible memories," Judge Ellis said. "We have all experienced having forgotten something and being reminded about it and realising you had made a mistake and you were wrong." The judge then compared alleged false memories to forgetting an anniversary or a funny joke. "Why is it that I can't remember a joke that other people have told me … plenty of men get in to trouble for forgetting anniversaries." There was an audible gasp in the court gallery, with abuse survivors and their families saying the comments were a joke, a disgrace and insensitive. The judge also took aim at the nature of child sex abuse proceedings. "Having some 30 to 40 years experience with sex abuse cases, it is not the process I would advocate for any of my children," Judge Ellis said. At that point, the wife of an abuse survivor was heard to respond from the gallery that the judge "had to be kidding" and was "an a###hole".
Dead priest's evidence taken into account Prior to Wilson's original trial at the local court, a key witness, Father Glen Walsh, suicided just weeks before he was due to give evidence at the trial. The district court heard yesterday that Walsh went to Wilson in 2004, asking for advice in relation to the abuse of another boy at the hands of Jim Fletcher. The court heard he had first approached his own bishop, Michael Malone, in the Maitland Newcastle diocese. Judge Ellis said Father Walsh's evidence was significant in terms of Wilson's character. "There was evidence Wilson set up protocols when he went to Wollongong [and became Bishop] in 1996," the judge said. "The way he acted in my mind runs completely contrary to him realising and then not remembering Peter Creigh's evidence. "He [Wilson] advised Father Walsh he should report it and should ignore his bishop and should be reporting it to police." Father Walsh’s police statements and diary entries were tendered to the local and district courts, before his death. When asked about a conversation with his then Bishop Michael Malone, Father Walsh told police he said, "Oh shit, tell no one, leave the parish, counsel the victim". At the time, Father Walsh had diary entries about reporting the matter to the Ombudsman's office. He also made a note about trying to contact the Catholic Commission for Employee relations without success. The matter was raised at a special commission of inquiry into the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese. Inquiry chair Margaret Cunneen, SC, said she could not be comfortably satisfied about what was said during the conversation between the two men. Judge Ellis will hand down his judgement on Thursday December 6 at 2:00pm.
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