Aussie Pedophile's Retrial Plea Splits Catholic Priests
Published in Today
February 24, 2000
OLONGAPO CITY-The case of a convicted Australian pedophile has driven a wedge between leaders of the Catholic Church here.
A Catholic bishop and 27 priest from the Diocese of Iba are seeking a retrial and release from detention of Victor Fitzgerald who was convicted of child prostitution four years ago. The demand for Fitzgerald's retrial is likely to cause a rift in the Church, as the person who pursued his case was Fr. Shay Cullen a Columban missionary running a child-care center in this city.
The call for Fitzgerald's retrial was first issued through an affidavit signed on February 2 by Bishop Deogracias Iniguez. "I feel that the pronouncement of guilt against Fitzgerald was not one beyond reasonable doubt," Iniguez said. "I believed that additioned introduction of testimonies and documentary evidence may alter the consideration of the case against Fitzgerald and that I feel justice demands a new trial."
Twenty-seven priests signed a similar appeal on February 7, The two affidavits will be submitted to the Court of AppeAls, which is currently reviewing the second motion for reconsideration filed by Fitzgerald's lawyer.
In his February 22, letter to Bishop Iniquez, Father Cullen said the staff of Preda Children's Home, "are shocked and amazed that you have given such generous, support and comfort to the convicted sexual abuser of children" "It is with these victims of sexual abuse [thatl our priority is priests ought to rest not with their rapists and abusers," Cullen added.
Fitzgerald was first charged in 1994 for sexually exploiting three girls in Barangay Lower Kalaklan in this city. Judge Eliodoro Ubiadas dismissed the case after the complainants reacted their statements. But a few months later, Fitzgerald was charged again with rape and child prostitution.
In May 1996 Judge Leopoldo Calderon, convicted Fitzgerald, of child prostitution but acquitted him of rape. He was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. During the litigation, Cullen housed the three victim at Preda Children's Home. The girls later "ran away" from the center, claiming they were pressured into signing the complaints against Fitzgerald, and that Cullen offered them P50,000 in exchange for their signatures.
Another girl alleged that she and her mother were threatened by Cullen. "I think the bishop and the priests were manipulated because they did not give us the opportunity we asked for to present all the evidence from the decision of the court of appeals," Cullen said in a phone interview yesterday. "Maybe they got donations from the tourist industry."
Cullen said the "runaway" girls are now under the control of a child-molesting syndicate led by Harry Joost a German national.
Joost, in a separate interview denied Cullen's accusation. "I never approched the bishop nor the priests who issued the affidavits. It was their [the victims' and thier others']own initiatives." "Based on my investigations, Michael Duffin Was the one who help the people seek audience with the bishop an the priests"Joost said.
The statements given by the victims and witnesses also prompted Bishop Iniguez to issue his affidavit expressing his feeling that "the pronouncement of guilt against Fitzgerald was not one beyond reasonable doubt."
Tino Dimaano
Correspondent
