Aussie Anglican priest jailed for child sex
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Aussie Anglican priest jailed for child sex*
By Suzanne Klotz
November 09, 2006 07:21pm
Article from: AAP
AUSTRALIA - AN Anglican priest was jailed for 12 months today for having
sex with a teenage male organist he mentored more than 30 years ago.
Robert Francis Sharwood, 62, of Brisbane, was found guilty by a District
Court jury in Brisbane of four charges including one each of carnal
knowledge and permitting carnal knowledge and two of indecent assault,
but acquitted on another charge of gross indecency.
Sharwood had already pleaded guilty to another seven charges relating to
the sexual relationship between January, 1974, and March, 1976, while he
was an assistant curate at a parish in Brisbane's southwest.
The now 46-year-old complainant, who cannot be named, was a 13-year-old
parishioner who played the organ at the same parish when Sharwood
seduced him through their shared love of classical music.
During the two and a half years, Sharwood molested the boy about two to
three times a week, including when he picked him up after school, at the
rectory, during musical concerts, at their homes, and in a car.
Judge Fleur Kingham, sentencing Sharwood to two years and nine months
jail, suspended it after 12 months, saying he had shown decades of
exemplary behaviour and self-rehabilitation.
"It appears you are not now the same person as you were when you
committed these offences," Judge Kingham said.
Sharwood spent 17 years as a preacher and teacher at an exclusive
Brisbane private school, which sacked him in 2002 on hearing about the
alleged abuse.
Judge Kingham urged Sharwood to read the victim impact statement which
told of suffering guilt, helplessness, isolation, anger and flashbacks,
all while maintaining a friendship with Sharwood, exchanging Christmas
cards and attending the same church musical camps.
Sharwood was an assistant priest at the complainant's wedding in 1982,
after the complainant was a groomsman at the accused's wedding in 1977.
A friendship continued for the next 25 years, until the victim lodged a
complaint with police.
The affair originally came to light in 1976, when the victim's father
discovered a love letter to his son from Sharwood.
However the church bestowed "absolute forgiveness and restoration to the
church", on Sharwood, to reform him.