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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Press
March 25, 2002

Predator: priest who got away

A Catholic priest who sexually abused young boys in Melbourne for more than 20 years is unlikely to face prosecution after fleeing to Britain.

The Catholic Church has so far paid out more than $50,000 in compensation, provided counselling and made formal apologies to victims whose lives were shattered by Father Ronald Dennis Pickering.

A Melbourne Sunday Age newspaper investigation has revealed that Pickering moved from parish to parish around Melbourne, selecting vulnerable boys. His preferred victims were members of church choirs or altar boys.

Several deaths from drug overdoses and attempted suicides among suspected victims have been linked to Pickering's activities.

But despite detailed statements given to Victoria police by two of Pickering's victims, it is unlikely he will be extradited to Melbourne to face charges.

One victim said police told him the case was not serious enough to justify the cost of extradition.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne said it was prepared to "fully co-operate" with any extradition.

But Victoria police refused to say whether the Pickering case had been investigated, and refused to comment on why there had been no attempt to extradite him.

The Sunday Age has traced victims dating as far back as 1966 through to the early 1980s. One of the victims says he believes up to 100 boys may have been abused by Pickering before he fled to his native Britain in 1993.

Pickering, who was ordained in the Melbourne archdiocese in 1957, served as a priest in five different suburbs.

The Vicar-General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, Monsignor Christopher Prowse, confirmed three victims had so far contacted the Church, with the most recent application for compensation being made earlier this month. The Church was satisfied in each case that abuse had occurred and has made two ex gratia compensation payments, with an offer being made in the third case.

A further suspected victim, who was befriended by Pickering during the early 1980s, died of a drug overdose in 1992 at the age of 22. In a letter to the man's mother in November, the head of the Melbourne archdiocese's Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse, Peter O'Callaghan, QC, admitted Pickering "had a proclivity for child abuse".

Two of the victims who have received compensation payouts from the Melbourne archdiocese also received written personal apologies from the former Archbishop of Melbourne, George Pell, who is now Archbishop of Sydney.

"On behalf of the Catholic Church and personally I apologise to you and to those around you for the wrongs and hurt you have suffered at the hands of Father Ronald Pickering," Pell wrote.

Last week, the Pope, breaking his silence on a wave of child-sex scandals in the United States, said Catholic priests abusing minors were carrying out the worst form of evil possible.