www.peterellis.co.nz : seeking justice for Peter Ellis : mail to: [email protected]

Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

Index: Home Page Peter Ellis
Index: Accusations in Institutions

The Dominion Post
February 12, 2003

Documents about sexual harassment complaint stolen

Sensitive documents concerning a woman's complaint about sexual harassment against Catholic priest Jim Consedine have been stolen from his Presbytery.

According to church lawyers, the Presbytery was burgled and all documents relating to the complaint by Christchurch woman Bonnie Quilter were stolen from a safe. They were the only items stolen.

Father Consedine stood down as Lyttelton parish priest last October amid allegations of sexual misconduct from four women, including Ms Quilter.

He accepted he needed counselling and was sent to a programme in Sydney specialising in treating clergy for violation of professional boundaries, sexual disorders and abuse.

Ms Quilter, a mother, of the Christchurch suburb of Shirley, was annoyed that the church was missing some documents tracking her complaint over the years. She is preparing legal action against the church and, through lawyers, asked for full disclosure of its records regarding her complaint.

The lawyers for Catholic Bishop of Christchurch John Cunneen were able to supply some documents, but they said that Father Consedine's documents about Ms Quilter were stolen in the burglary and there were no other records.

"It was news to me," Ms Quilter said.

"I would have presumed that the documents would have been kept somewhere safe where they couldn't have been burgled. Canon law requires sensitive documents to be kept in secure archives."

Catholic Communications director Lyndsay Freer did not know when the burglary took place and had been unable to find out. She did not know if the burglary was reported to police.

Lyttelton police could not confirm if the burglary had been reported, without more specific details.

Ms Quilter met Father Consedine as a chaplain at Christchurch Women's Prison when she was an inmate in 1987. She took up his offer of accommodation on her release the next year.

Ms Quilter claims he started acting over-familiarly -- making lewd suggestions and touching her bottom while hugging. She sent a complaint of sexual harassment to Bishop Cunneen in 1997.

Last October, during a three-hour mediation, Father Consedine apologised "for any hurt he may have inflicted", which she accepted.

However, the bishop's lawyers have said Father Consedine's apology was not an acceptance or acknowledgment of any wrongdoing. Father Consedine's stepping down from his parish had nothing to do with Ms Quilter, they said. Any suggestion the bishop or the diocese failed to act over Ms Quilter's complaint was unfounded. -- NZPA

Supplied by New Zealand Press Association