A witness in the landmark trial of Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson has given a harrowing account of why he believes the then-priest failed to report sexual abuse by a fellow clergyman in the 1970s.
Thursday's hearing centred on a conversation involving the witness who was 15 years old at the time, in which he told the court he reported abuse by the now deceased Father James Fletcher.
Witness Peter Creigh asked a suppression order to be lifted by the court to allow his name to be used in reporting this case.
Mr Creigh told the court Father Wilson was the first person he told that Father James Fletcher had abused him.
"He was the first person I told because he was young and a light person. I felt I could trust him," the witness said.
Mr Creigh said when he accounted "acts of punishment", as they were described by Father Fletcher in 1971, that Father Wilson "had a look of horror on his face".
"I asked him whether these punishments, stripping naked and being asked to assist in masturbation, were usual. Father Wilson said they were not," the witness said.
The court heard Mr Creigh attempted to follow up on the matter with Father Wilson six months later and the latter had said he was pursuing it, but he was not aware of anything being done.
The two conversations were said by Mr Creigh to have occurred in 1976 - both at the close of youth group meetings downstairs in St Joseph's parish in Maitland.
Father Fletcher, who was later convicted of sexual abuses - including those inflicted on Mr Creigh, was at that time a senior colleague of Father Wilson at the St Joseph's parish.
In cross examination, counsel for the accused questioned discrepancies in the accounts Mr Creigh had given of that conversation to police in interviews and at a Royal Commission in 2013.
The court heard Mr Creigh gave varied accounts of the exact wording he used in two conversations in 1976 with Father Wilson.
