Australian archbishop found guilty of concealing child sex abuses
Canberra, May 22: An Australian court has found Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson guilty of concealing child sexual abuse cases, media reported on Monday. He faces a maximum jail term of upto two years.
Wilson, the archbishop of Adelaide, becomes the most senior Catholic in the world to be charged and convicted of the offence, the BBC reported.
He was found to have covered up the abuse of altar boys by a paedophile priest in New South Wales in the 1970s. Wilson will be sentenced in June.
During his trial, Wilson denied any memory of being told about the abuse by two of the boys.
He told the Newcastle court he had not been aware of priest James Fletcher's abuse, which took place while he was an assistant priest in Maitland, the BBC report added.
Fletcher was convicted of nine child sexual abuse charges in 2004 and died in jail in 2006.
One of his victims, Peter Creigh, told the court he had described the abuse to Wilson in detail when he was 15, five years after the abuse, the BBC reported.
Magistrate Robert Stone rejected Wilson's assertion that he could not remember the conversation and said he found Creigh to be a reliable witness.
The priest knew "what he was hearing was a credible allegation and the accused wanted to protect the Church and its reputation", said Magistrate Stone.
Wilson's lawyers had attempted four times to get the case thrown out after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, the BBC said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Indigo crisis: Shivakumar urges Centre to act immediately, bring situation under control
Bengaluru (PTI): With large scale flight cancellations by Indigo airlines leaving passengers stranded, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday urged the Centre to act immediately and bring the situation under control.
He called the IndiGo fiasco a the direct result of the govt's monopoly model.
Taking to social media platform 'X', Shivakumar said India is witnessing the worst aviation meltdown in its history. "Thousands of flights cancelled - leaving our people stranded everywhere".
ALSO READ: Arnab Goswami’s Homecoming? Anchor tears into Modi Government over aviation chaos
"The IndiGo fiasco is the direct result of the govt's monopoly model. And as always, it is ordinary Indians who are paying the price," he said.
Shivakumar said that the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, which is India's 3rd busiest airport with nearly 40 million travellers a year, is in complete chaos.
"This is hurting families, businesses and our national reputation. I urge the Union Government to act immediately and bring this situation under control. Our people deserve better," he added.
Domestic carrier IndiGo cancelled over 800 flights on Saturday, the fifth day of the ongoing crisis, even as the government imposed a cap on airfares and directed the airline to process all refunds by Sunday evening.
