(UTV|COLOMBO) – A Catholic Archbishop in Australia has been given a maximum sentence of twelve-months in detention for concealing child sexual abuse in the 1970s, the BBC reported.
Philip Wilson, now Archbishop of Adelaide, is the most senior Catholic globally to be convicted of the crime.
He was found guilty by a Court last month of covering up abuse by a paedophile Priest in New South Wales.
On Tuesday (03), the Court ordered Wilson to be assessed for “Home detention” – meaning he will probably avoid jail.
Magistrate Robert Stone said the senior clergyman had shown “No remorse or contrition”. He will be eligible for parole after six-months.
Wilson has not resigned as Archbishop, despite relinquishing his duties in the wake of his conviction.
In May, a Court found he had failed to report his colleague James Patrick Fletcher’s abuse of altar boys to Police.
Wilson, then a junior Priest in the Maitland region, had dismissed young victims in a bid to protect the Church’s reputation, Magistrate Stone ruled.
Fletcher was convicted of nine child sexual abuse charges in 2004, and died in jail two-years later.
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