FATHER Robert Fuller, a Sydney-based Catholic priest, thought he was chatting on the internet to a 13-year-old girl when he sent her sexually-explicit messages – and even masturbated on a webcam for her.
Father Robert Fuller
But the “girl” turned out to be a member of the Sex Crime Squad’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit – and Fuller, parish priest of All Saints at Liverpool for six years, has now been charged with attempting to groom an under-aged “girl” for sex.
Police – according to this report – allege that he sent chat-room messages between July and August, and even tried to arrange a meeting to engage in sexual activity.
Fuller was arrested in a car park at Parramatta, in western Sydney, yesterday, and later charged with grooming a person under the age of 16. He appeared in Parramatta Local Court, where he sat silently throughout the hearing.
In a police document tabled at the hearing, it was alleged that, between July 21 and this week, Fuller had communicated with a person on an online messenger service, Yahoo, who he thought was a 13-year-old girl, but was, in fact, a police investigator.
There were a total of 25 conversations between the priest and the investigator, the court heard.
“During the communications the accused was sexually explicit with the [investigator] with a view to grooming and procuring ‘her’ for sexual activity,” the document stated.
The accused masturbated in front a of a web camera and encouraged the presumed girl to masturbate too, the document added.
During yesterday’s operation, police also seized laptop computers, documents, photographs and a mobile phone from the presbytery at All Saints Catholic Parish on George Street.
The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell said:
This is appalling and distressing news. I share the concern and alarm of parishioners, and particularly of parents and the school community. I can assure them that the safety of children in our parishes and schools is paramount, and the Archdiocese will co-operate fully with the police in relation to this and any other investigation into abuse at anytime.
Fuller was ordained in 1979 after studying at St Columba’s College at Springwood, then St Patrick’s College at Manly. He was appointed parish priest for Liverpool in 2003 and has a bachelor of theology from the Catholic Institute of Sydney.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
August 14th, 2009 at 8:44 am
ho hum – another one, and from my neck of the woods too.
To prevent grooming in future – I suggest that 13 year old girls when going on the internet pretend to be police officers from the sex crime squad.
August 14th, 2009 at 8:59 am
# I can assure them that the safety of children in our parishes and schools is paramount,#
I am sick to the back teeth of seeing that stock statement every time another preacher gets caught out, I hope they lock the twat up and throw away the key.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
It is interesting that the Cardinal is not conerned with children out side the parish.
August 14th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I read this and asked an RC what she thought about it. "This man was not a true christian."
There you have it. If they do anything regarded as wrong they are not true christians. When I gave the same woman some money a while back for a Battered Woman's Refuge – not RC – and said, "This is coming from an atheist, remember that."
She said, "But underneath you are a christian as you will discover."
That's it, folks. Hypocrites, sanctimonious morons, and locked into superstition so firmly that their ignorance is impervious even to a kind act unless it is "christian."
August 14th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
At least he wasn't bleating about the damage done to the Church's reputation! (Though I bet he's worried about that anyway.)
August 15th, 2009 at 7:51 am
A 13 year old girl working as an undercover detective…how cool is that!
When I was that age I could only get a paper-round.
August 15th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I'm uneasy about these kind of entrapment tactics. Apart from anything else, the charges make no sense. How can he be charged with "attempting to groom an underage girl" if there was no underage girl?
"Attempting to groom an imaginary underage girl" is more empirically accurate, and since he posted sexually suggestive material concerning this imaginary girl, he presumably ought to be charged with creating and distributing child porn. But since the police joined in, and indeed, instigated the whole thing, they ought to be charged, too.
August 15th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
remigius: Too right. This could cause big trouble. My son was doing a paper round and washing cars. If my kids had got a sniff of "undercover detective" it would be game over on the car washing. Makes a change on the "I want to be a pop star" or "I want to be famous when I grow up" that teachers hear.
August 15th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
I agree, Bubblecar – shades of Colin Stagg (qv). I don't see, either, how sending underage kids into corner shops to buy booze and fags isn't breaking the law, and I think that that tactic should be dropped if only because the authorities are quite blatantly exploiting the youngsters involved.
August 15th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
"attempting to groom an underage girl"
He was attempting. He failed because he wasn't talking to an underage girl, but he was definitely attempting.
August 15th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Ah, yes but what about intention. Father Peter Fyle here obviously had the necessary mens rea, along with a bloody obvious actus reus.
Is it better to arrest him before, or after he fucks a child?
August 16th, 2009 at 3:06 am
It's a more complex issue than that, remigius. Having police online, pretending to be children, actively portraying themselves as sexually available and "begging for sex" from strange old men, can only reinforce the idea amongst these deluded types that there are indeed plenty of kids out there "begging for it". It could also encourage such behaviour amongst impressionable youngsters.
And since this man is being charged with a thought crime, not an actual crime against a child, we really should be honest about that. While I believe it's preferable for people to be charged with real crimes, rather than pretend crimes made up by the police, there may well be a strong argument for "thought crime" convictions in the name of public safety. But let's not pretend he was actually "grooming an underage girl" – this misrepresents both the nature of the offence and the police tactics involved, in a needlessly evasive way.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:17 am
"He was attempting. He failed because he wasn't talking to an underage girl, but he was definitely attempting. "
No, there was NO underage girl. We atheists are supposed to be able to clearly disinguish between fantasy and reality. You can't "attempt to groom an underage girl" if it's really a policeman – you can only "attempt to groom a policeman posing as an underage girl". This is not an academic distinction. If his crime is being presented as an "attempt to groom an underage girl", then it's a fictitious crime. We shouldn't be charging people with fictitious crimes.
This doesn't mean he shouldn't be charged, but the charge should refer to what really happened and why he's really considered worth arresting. He's coming before the courts because the police regard him as potentially dangerous, and this is something the court needs to assess, without basing this assessment on the mistaken idea that the police are providing evidence that he has actually engaged in child abuse.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
It is quite disheartening that some priests are not representing the catholic priesthood and the catholic church in general very well.
specifically if this priest is guilty of all that were written above, it is so repulsive and appalling of him.
But sometimes , we don’t know what to believe again especially when it comes to the catholic priesthood and sexual molestation.
Some people use this medium to enrich themselves. though there has be past facts.
Well it is unfortunate that some people became priest just for the benefits, respect and sometime parents’ demands.And once you are ordained, you are a priest forever till you die.Less I would have suggested they get kicked out or stripped of the sacrament of orders.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I hope we are all good enough people to pray for the man. He is surely in need of guidance from our Lord. Let us pray that he attones for his sins and also for any child that has been affected by this mis-guided human being.