AUSTRALIA
7 News
AAP
BY ANGUS LIVINGSTON AND GENEVIEVE GANNON
August 18, 2014
The victim of a pedophile priest was discouraged from going to police and felt he had to take a Catholic Church payout, the child abuse royal commission has heard.
The church has paid a combined $17 million in compensation to abuse victims in the Melbourne archdiocese, but only 119 of the 326 upheld complaints have been dealt with by police.
Victims told the royal commission they felt betrayed by the church’s Melbourne Response process, which they said lacked compassion, and called for the $75,000 cap on compensation payments to be scrapped.
A victim of pedophile priest Father Michael Glennon said Melbourne Response independent commissioner Peter O’Callaghan told him the prospects of Glennon doing any more jail time were low and he might not be charged.
“I felt Mr O’Callaghan was trying to discourage me from going to the police,” the man told the commission on Monday.
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.