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An Australian Archbishop found guilty of concealing pedophile abuses one of the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries of the world Catholic hierarchy to be involved in such a case, was sentenced on Tuesday at 12 months In May, Philip Wilson (67 years), Archbishop of Adelaide, was convicted of concealing the abuses committed in the 1970s by Jim Fletcher's Commissariat in the Hunter area (New South Wales), having refrained from reporting the charges against Fletcher.
The clergyman denied any accusation. His supporters have tried four times to abandon the proceedings against him, alleging that he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease to avoid a lawsuit although he had retained his functions within the Church.
The Newcastle court found him guilty of concealing a serious crime by which a third party could have been tried.
The same court sentenced him to 12 years in prison, with no possibility of early release for six months.
But Judge Robert Stone suspended the hearing until August 14 to determine if the Archbishop could be allowed to serve his sentence at the home of a family member. He faced a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
The judge argued that "the convicted did not register any remorse," according to the ABC media group.
The badual abuse of a child of a choir by Fletcher, now deceased, was not treated at the hearing, but the court wanted to determine if Philip Wilson, at the time a young priest, was aware of this.
He was pastor of New South Wales before being appointed bishop of Wollongong in 1996. Five years later, he was appointed archbishop.
When he was found guilty, he was granted leave but did not resign.
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