MC v Casa Generalizia Della Societa Dei Missionari D’Africa Detti Padri Bianchi (White Fathers) [2024] NSWSC 1658 (Link to Caselaw).
The plaintiff, MC, filed a claim against the White Fathers. He alleged that they were liable for damages, in either negligence or by way of vicarious liability, for the sexual assaults he suffered sustained at the hands of a priest (Fr Dufort) in 1973 to 1975 at St Mary’s Church in Erskineville in New South Wales. In 1987 the White Fathers ceased their operations in Australia.
The matter was marked part-heard pending the High Court’s judgment in Bird v DP (a pseudonym) [2024] HCA 41 (“Bird”). Further submissions were recently heard, and the plaintiff’s claim in vicarious liability was abandoned. For reasons that are not clear, the defendant was not represented at the hearing. However a defence had previously been filed.
The plaintiff argued his remaining claim in negligence. The court accepted his evidence as to the occurrence of the alleged assaults. On the evidence, there were only two active priests at the parish. The third had dementia, and on the plaintiff’s evidence was non-verbal. However, the trial judge held at [100]:
Nothing in the evidence before me points to a breach of a duty of care owed to the plaintiff. It simply cannot be said that the evidence demonstrates that the risk of harm to the plaintiff was reasonably foreseeable. There is nothing to suggest that the Fr Coolen knew or ought to have known that Fr Dufort was sexually assaulting the plaintiff or that he was interacting with him in an inappropriate manner.
Accordingly there was a verdict and judgment for the defendant.
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