By NORTH AMERICA CORRESPONDENT STEPHANIE MARCH.
A Catholic priest who gave evidence to the child abuse royal commission in defence of Cardinal George Pell was himself the subject of a historical sexual abuse claim, the ABC can reveal.
In 2012, the victim, John Roach, received an apology and $75,000 compensation after the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne accepted he had been sexually abused by Father John Walshe, a parish priest based at Mentone in Melbourne’s south east.
Father Walshe denies he abused Mr Roach.
Mr Roach was an 18-year-old seminarian in 1982 when the incident took place.
Father Walshe had recently been ordained and was in his early 20s.
Mr Roach, who now lives in the United States, said he felt compelled to speak publicly after seeing Father Walshe giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse last week.
“Walshe cannot hold himself up as this paragon of virtue,” Mr Roach said.
“I think he is certainly a compromised witness.”
Last week, Father Walshe gave evidence at the royal commission about his recollection of a 1993 phone call between Cardinal George Pell and a child abuse victim.
He had been asked to make a statement by Cardinal Pell’s legal team.
Father Walshe was living with Cardinal Pell at the time and described in detail the Cardinal’s demeanour when he emerged from taking the call.
In the hearing, Counsel Assisting Angus Stewart SC accused Father Walshe of lying.
“Father I suggest to you that you fabricated these aspects of your statement to save your good friend Cardinal Pell,” Mr Stewart said.
Father Walshe strenuously denied he had tried to deceive the Commission.
‘I woke up in his bed and he was abusing me’
Mr Roach was a first-year seminarian in 1982 when he met the recently ordained Father Walshe at the Corpus Christi College in Clayton.
“One night he invited me up to his room, which was not uncommon,” Mr Roach said.
“We had a fair bit of port to drink — I was very unfamiliar with drinking — and I woke up in his bed and he was abusing me.
“I left as quickly as I could, I was very confused, I didn’t know what to do, what to think.”