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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Press
February 17, 2004

Court date for abuse complaint against priest
by Yvonne Martin

The case of a Christchurch woman suing the Catholic Church over its handling of a complaint against a priest will go to the High Court next month.

Bonnie Quilter, a Shirley invalid beneficiary, is seeking exemplary damages and an inquiry into the church's abuse complaints procedures.

She is one of four women who laid complaints of sexual misconduct against former Lyttelton priest Jim Consedine.

She claims the church failed in its duty of care towards her and did not keep proper records of the complaints process.

It is believed to be the first time one of the church's own investigative bodies has been sued over its performance in New Zealand.

The church and its various representatives named as defendants have applied to have the claim struck out through their counsel, Judith Ablett-Kerr, QC, and Mark Callaghan.

A telephone conference was held between the parties and Justice John Hansen yesterday.

A hearing date was set for next month.

The Catholic diocese of Christchurch is listed as a defendant, as is Bishop John Cunneen and two members of the professional standards committee, which investigates abuse complaints.

The fifth defendant is vicar-general Monsignor Gerald O'Connor.

Quilter's civil action relies on the Catholic Bishops Empowering Act 1997, which establishes bishops as single legal entities.

Consedine resigned from his Lyttelton parish at the Bishop's request last June and was then stripped of all powers, except for ministering the last rites to the dying.

The church accepted complaints from the three other women as credible.

Quilter met Consedine as a chaplain at Christchurch Women's Prison when she was an inmate in 1987. She claims he later started acting over-familiarly, making lewd suggestions and touching her bottom while hugging.

In 2002, during a mediation, Consedine apologised to Quilter "for any hurt he may have inflicted".

The Bishop's lawyers have said that the apology was not an acceptance or acknowledgement of wrongdoing. Consedine's stepping down from his parish had nothing to do with Quilter, they said.