Dominion Post
May 19 2004
Judge defends advice over paedophile priest
Former chief
district court judge Peter Trapski yesterday defended
his role with the Catholic Church in relation to its handling of publicity
about paedophile priest Alan Woodcock in the 1990s.
When one of the victims went to the media in 1994, the church turned to Judge Trapski for advice. He had helped to set up its abuse
protocol and was at the time chairman of St Patrick's College in Silverstream.
Woodcock had abused several boys at St Patrick's 12 years earlier.
Judge Trapski said he had tried to encourage the
church to be more open about sexual offending by its priests and brothers,
instead of "sweeping things under the carpet" as parts of the church
had done in the past.
Documents show the church knew Woodcock had a conviction for sexual offending
in 1979 against a 17-year-old youth, before it appointed him to St Patrick's.
He had been granted name suppression.
When media inquiries were made about Woodcock, Judge Trapski
urged caution so that the suppression order would not be breached. He also
suggested that "confidential material" about Woodcock be placed in
his employment file in a separate envelope marked confidential. He said
yesterday this advice was to ensure that all the material was together so that
it could be accessed, but that "sensitive" material would not be open
to just anyone.
Judge Trapski said he was aware in 1994 of complaints
made in 1982 by Silverstream boys about Woodcock's abuse but he advised the
church to be careful about saying anything about them as Woodcock could not be
found and "we could not put stuff into the media without his
knowledge" or giving him the opportunity to defend the claims.
Though attitudes had now changed, Judge Trapski said
that at the time he did not believe it was up to the church to contact the
police about the abuse claims. "I didn't think it was the church's
responsibility or even right to go to the police. I think it is a matter for
the victims to go to the police."