What exactly are these “minor” charges?
1 Like
I’m not saying they aren’t but on the scale, the allegations against him are minor.
I suspect they aren’t considered minor to the alleged victims.
1 Like
How on earth was he supposed to prevent incidents happening under his watch?
He can put in processes that perhaps lessen the opportunities but to be held responsible for everything else is ridiculous.
Stop being silly - You should know exactly what I mean being ex police.
Like shuffling them around after the parents complained?
I do. I was commenting that I thought it was a poor choice of words because I don’t think you meant it the way it came across.
There were accusations that he exposed himself to some boys at a swimming pool change room in the 70s, and i think that’s going to trial. I remember the change rooms at St Kilda Sea Baths in the 60s. Everyone wandered around in the buff, as they did in sporting change rooms everywhere. I don’t know what the current mores are, but unless he was giving himself a good seeing to, I can’t see that that has any chance.
And the ones at the cathedral have been refuted as technically impossible.
He’s guilty of the greater moral crime of enabling paedophilia, but i’ve got my doubts that he personally is guilty of actual paedophilia.
4 Likes
That’s the accusations basically in a nutshell.
I think even he would admit that there were mistakes made - but for people to then suggest that he deliberately and callously made these mistakes is a very long bow to draw.
In my opinion.
1 Like
One of the cathedral charges is going ahead.
Good luck with that one.
Why are you so against his charges?
Magistrates process tends to sort out the false accusers and those with false memories…Does not always work that way, but given the enormous pressure on this magistrate, she may have been extra rigorous in testing the evidence.
Whether the evidence survives the criminal standard of proof in the higher court proceedings is another matter, but the charges should not be dismissed as trivial
1 Like
Think the analogy is Bomber Thompson’ current charges. He has been charged with possession and trafficking of drugs. Possession is considered minor and trafficking is major.
Reportedly about half the charges are going ahead, one dropped because complainant died, another too unwell.
For legal reasons, the exact number and nature of charges cannot be made public yet. Some charges could be more serious than others - and carry different sentences - but does not mean that all or any are minor.
Because green left weekly.
5 Likes
**[quote=“Alan_Noonan_10, post:689, topic:3069, full:true”]
There were accusations that he exposed himself to some boys at a swimming pool change room in the 70s, and i think that’s going to trial. I remember the change rooms at St Kilda Sea Baths in the 60s. Everyone wandered around in the buff, as they did in sporting change rooms everywhere. I don’t know what the current mores are, but unless he was giving himself a good seeing to, I can’t see that that has any chance.
And the ones at the cathedral have been refuted as technically impossible.
He’s guilty of the greater moral crime of enabling paedophilia, but i’ve got my doubts that he personally is guilty of actual paedophilia.
[/quote]
**
What makes you so sure of that? There’s been no such finding.
I was alluding to the (I thought established) fact of being on the council run by Bishop Mulkearns which responded to accusations of paedophilia by moving priests and brothers to more remote reaches of the diocese (many of them to Warrnambool and surrounds, or so I’m told).
1 Like
Where that analogy falls over, is that drug possession affects only (mostly) the possessor.
Suicide & murder are another analogy.
This is what invoked the infamous “it wasn’t any of my concern” claim, isn’t it?
He kept getting told about kiddie fiddlers everywhere he went, and (according to his story), put his fingers in his ears and shut his eyes. You’ve got victims, other priests, other members of the hierarchy who swear they told him. He - apparently - didn’t believe any of it, and didn’t feel the need to investigate. Which is not much better.
Accessory after the fact for mine.
Heinous, awful person.
5 Likes