AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times
March 21, 2014
Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer
An email sent by the Catholic Church’s solicitor to its barristers suggested sex abuse victim John Ellis, as a boy of 14 or 15, used to “force himself” on the ageing priest who was sexually abusing him.
The email was sent during the court case in which Mr Ellis sought damages for abuse, which began when he was a 13-year-old altar boy at the hands of Father Aidan Duggan at the Sydney Archdiocese’s Bass Hill parish.
Tendered in evidence at the royal commission on child sex abuse, the email promises the barristers they will be “greeted with open arms at the Pearly Gates”.
Solicitor John Dalzell is now a partner at Gadens Lawyers but was then a senior associate at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, which was being instructed by Cardinal George Pell, who was a defendant.
The commission has been trying to establish who was responsible for the church’s conduct in the case, which not only left Mr Ellis a broken man, but also insulated the church against claims from other future victims.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.