AUSTRALIA
ABC News
A Catholic priest has been accused of fabricating his statement to the child abuse royal commission to help his friend Cardinal George Pell.
Father John Walshe gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about a 1993 telephone call between Cardinal Pell and child abuse victim David Ridsdale.
What was said in the call and the tone of the conversation are in dispute.
In May, Mr Ridsdale told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse the conversation ended acrimoniously after Cardinal Pell allegedly said: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”
Cardinal Pell denies ever trying to bribe Mr Ridsdale and rejected the suggestion the phone call ended acrimoniously.
On Tuesday, Father Walshe, who was living with Cardinal Pell at the time, backed the Cardinal’s version of events. …
Inconsistencies in priest’s story
But documents tendered to the commission on Wednesday showed in an initial conversation with Cardinal Pell’s legal team earlier this month Father Walshe was vague on the details of what happened 22 years ago.
Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan pointed out several inconsistencies between that initial conversation and Father Walshe’s statement, in particular that the telephone call in question occurred during the morning and not the evening.
Justice McClellan: I take it when you were first asked about this you didn’t remember a morning call.
Father Walshe: No. There was no real talk about timing, I didn’t focus on that.
Justice McClellan: Well you talked about the evening. You didn’t remember a morning call. Is that right?
Father Walshe: At that stage I didn’t because it was the first time I’d addressed it.
The documents also indicated Father Walshe was initially unsure when speaking to Cardinal Pell’s lawyers whether he was actually in the house at the time of the call.
Justice McClellan: You also told them you weren’t sure, you think you were in the house when the call was made.
Father Walshe: That was at the beginning, yes. As I said, I had to sit and think. It was the first time I’d revisited the matter over 20 years basically.
After close to an hour of questioning, counsel assisting the commission, Angus Stewart SC, accused Father Walshe of trying deceive the royal commission.
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