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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Evening Post
July 1, 2002

Police may extradite accused
by Kathryn Powley

Upper Hutt police will today review the case of a former Catholic priest accused of serial sex offences against teenage boys to see if there's evidence to extradite him from England.

The move comes after fresh claims at the weekend that former Marist priest, Alan Woodcock, described by one of his victims as "a dog on heat", abused several teenage boys in the Wellington region in the 1980s.

The alleged abuse occurred at St Patrick's College Silverstream, where he taught music in 1982, then in 1984 when he returned to the now-closed Futuna Retreat House in Karori. Woodcock was a member of the Society of Mary, commonly known as the Marists.

Upper Hutt CIB head, Detective Sergeant Murray Porter, said today that police received a sex abuse complaint against Woodcock in 1994, but didn't apply for his extradition.

Mr Porter said he would today reassess the evidence on Woodcock's file. If he believed it was sufficient, he would forward the file to police national headquarters, which would then apply for extradition.

One of Woodcock's victims, Lower Hutt man Terry Carter, who made the original complaint to police, told The Evening Post today that Woodcock was a rampant paedophile who abused him for three years from the age of 15. "He was always at it - like a dog on heat."

He said he now struggled with chronic depression and insomnia and was still attending counselling.

He said he was not focusing on a possible extradition - the most important thing was to keep Woodcock away from other children. "I'm not so concerned about myself as about the victims he hasn't created yet."

However, he said he had some sympathy for Woodcock, who had been made a scapegoat for the widespread abuse throughout the Catholic Church.

Woodcock, ordained in 1972, was convicted of a sex offence against another man in Christchurch in 1979. He was moved to Wellington for rehabilitation and despite his conviction was appointed to St Patrick's Silverstream in 1982, where it has been reported that he had the power to summon boys to his bedroom for counselling.

After allegations of abuse in 1982, Woodcock was removed at the end of the year and sent to a novitiate near Palmerston North before returning to Wellington in 1984. After fresh allegations of abuse surfaced, he was moved on again and in 1987 was no longer allowed to practice ministry. In 1991 he took another job and is understood to be living in England.

Lower Hutt counsellor Brent Cherry, an ACC-approved counsellor, said today that he knew of eight former St Patrick's Silverstream students whom Woodcock had abused. Some from as far away as Auckland had contacted him since a story ran in The Post in May.

Mr Cherry said New Zealand was part of the pandemic of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

In recent years he had counselled former students of St Bernard's College, St Partick's College Silverstream and St Patrick's Kilbirnie. "I think the Church has been successful in covering (abuse) up for a long time."

But he said the Church had taken a step forward in its letter of apology at the weekend and by encouraging people to inform it of abuse.

A Marist spokesman said at the weekend that the order had co-operated fully with police in 1994 over Woodcock, handing over all Church documents relating to him.