AUSTRALIA
The Tablet (UK)
May 22, 2018
Australian Archbishop Philip Wilson has been found guilty of concealing child sexual abuse by a fellow priest in the 1970s
The Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has been found guilty of concealing child sexual abuse by a fellow priest.
He was convicted of concealing abuse by Fr James Fletcher in the 1970s, when the Archbishop was a young priest in his home Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in New South Wales.
Magistrate Robert Stone announced his verdict in a 59-page judgement delivered to a packed courtroom at Newcastle Local Court, north of Sydney, today (22 May).
Archbishop Wilson, the most senior Catholic cleric to date to be convicted on a charge of concealing child abuse, faces up to two years in jail when sentenced on 19 June. Mr Stone has the option of suspending the sentence, but prosecutors are seeking a custodial sentence.
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