High Court overturns permanent stay on abuse case

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A New South Wales woman hoping to sue the Catholic diocese of Lismore over alleged historical child sex abuse, has won her High Court battle over a permanent stay on the case. The woman, known as GLJ, says she was abused by Father Clarence Anderson in 1968, when she was only 14.

Transcript

00:00 The stay had blocked GLJ's case.

00:05 Father Anderson died in 1996, but GLJ argued the church had known about his abuse of children

00:13 since 1965.

00:15 GLJ had hoped to rely on the statements of other victims to press her case, but the diocese

00:22 said it couldn't get a fair trial because of the passage of time, the absence of records

00:27 and the death of relevant witnesses.

00:30 The High Court has ruled a permanent stay should only be considered in exceptional circumstances

00:37 and couldn't be justified in this case.

00:40 The court said the case must go to trial.

00:43 GLJ says she hopes the case will help others with claims against the church and that the

00:50 church will reflect on the morality of using technical legal defences.

00:55 It's not known when the case will return to the courts.

00:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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