Ex-Aussie archbishop avoids jail
Cleric to serve sentence at home for concealing child sex abuse case
SYDNEY: A former Australian archbishop, convicted of concealing abuse by a notorious paedophile priest in the 1970s, was confronted by enraged victims outside a courthouse after a judge spared him jail and ordered he serve his sentence at home.
Philip Wilson became one of the highestranked church officials convicted of covering up child sex abuse when he was found guilty in May of concealing crimes by priest Jim Fletcher in the Hunter region of New South Wales state.
The Newcastle Local Court sentenced the 67-year-old to 12 months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of six months, but also ordered that he be assessed to serve it in home detention.
Wilson had since been on bail, and yesterday magistrate Robert Stone decided he will not need to spend time behind bars, with his age and prior good record taken into account. But he will have to wear a tracking device. Wilson said nothing as he left the court, where he was mobbed by abuse survivors and members of the media.
Peter Gogarty, one of Fletcher’s victims, asked Wilson to apologise, but the cleric stayed silent. “Any words for me, Philip? Philip will you say sorry for what you have done to me and other child sex abuse survivors?” he yelled. “Please, something ... one word of contrition.”
One of Wilson’s supporters asked Gogarty why he did not come forward 40 years ago.
A fuming Gogarty called him “a pig, a typical Catholic”, to which the Wilson aide replied: “I don’t have time for rubbish like you, mate.”
Another Fletcher victim Daniel Feenan also criticised Wilson for failing to say sorry.
“I’d like to see him show some type of remorse, and I’d like to see him apologise,” he told the Newcastle Herald.