A Catholic Archbishop reportedly told a sexual assault victim to "go to hell" in what a Victorian magistrate has labelled "appalling" conduct. According to court documents, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart told the woman to "go to hell, bitch" after she knocked on his door in the early hours of a morning in March, 2004.
Archbishop Hart had been granted an intervention order against the woman after she began pursuing him over her abuse by priest Barry Whelan in 2001, The Age reports.
The archbishop later apologised to the woman but last night told The Age he "did not recall" his comments.
"It was a number of years ago, I don't recall precisely," he told the newspaper.
The woman was placed under an intervention order after she threw stones through a window of the archbishop's house and harassed him and his staff.
Despite being unable to remember what he said to the woman, Archbishop Hart told The Age that he was "very annoyed" when the woman came to his house at about 1.20am.
"(She was) ringing and ringing and ringing, I had to go to sleep, I was very tired, I was about to go off to Rome and I went down and I am sure I would have spoken strongly, but what I said I don't recall," he said.
Whelan was accused of sexual abuse by five women over several decades, including one who was just 13 at the time of the alleged abuse.
In 2006 the Catholic Church reached an undisclosed settlement with the woman involved in the 2004 court case.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to us or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
SIC: 9NEWS