A priest who has been described as “a hunter” in court for the crime of pedophilia in the United Kingdom has admitted to police that he had children in his room when he returned to East Timor a decade later.
Some details about the activities of 79-year-old Patrick Smith in East Timor came out after he was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in Leeds court for one of six indecent assaults and one attempted assault attempt.
“You are a looting pedophile who used your position to abuse the boys in your custody,” Judge Simon Batiste said in a sentencing hearing last week.
According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, investigators and prosecutors expressed concern about Smith’s ten years of travel to Timor-Leste, and said he was met by vulnerable children in the hotel room where he was staying.
After the defendant was convicted, attorney Michael Morley applied to the Sexual Harassment Prevention Commission (SHPO) to bar him from going abroad after his release. Following the sentence, the judge ruled that Smith could be barred from traveling to any country outside the UK, the European Union or North America.
“During the interview he said he took the kids to his hotel room, in his own words, ‘Show me how the other half lives,'” he said.
He said this has caused considerable concern to the police and the government.
Despite this, Smith’s lawyer, Susannah Proctor, told the court that “there is no suggestion that this defendant committed crimes in Timor-Leste.”
Smith was convicted of crimes committed while traveling with children between the ages of 12 and 16 in the 1970s and 1980s.
The judge, who read the sentence, said the priest had lied several times during the trial. “You were a Catholic priest. You denied any wrongdoing during the trial. You swore allegiance to the Bible, which you allegedly preached for many years – and then told a series of lies and untruths that the jury noticed,” he said.
“In short, your testimony about these crimes is a lie,” he said.
During the interrogation, three victims provided details about the impact of their abuse, one of whom described the priest as “an animal”.
After the sentencing, the Bishop of Leeds, Marcus Stock, said that “the Catholic community in the Diocese of Leeds is deeply ashamed and remorseful for the crimes committed by Father Smith.”
“As the bishop and pastor of the diocese, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the survivors of the atrocities they endured as children and to the suffering they have endured throughout their lives as a result of such grave violations.”
“I thank you for your courage in bringing these crimes to justice. The Diocese of Leeds is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all children, youth and adults at risk,” he added.
Smith is the author of The Hewest Blow – The Catholic Church and the East Timor Issue, published in 2004, in which he analyzes the role of the church during the Indonesian occupation.
