The alleged victim of sexual abuse by a former Catholic priest has told the Royal Court of how the defendant allegedly confessed to the abuse in a phone call.
On the third day of the trial of Piotr Antoni Glas, the complainant told the Royal Court that they came away from a call confronting their alleged perpetrator feeling like they had “clear evidence” of the priest admitting what happened.
Mr Glas faces eight charges of committing acts of gross indecency and two charges of indecent exposure – all of which the prosecution say were sexually motivated.
The 61-year-old is accused of placing the child’s feet against his face and masturbating, play-fighting until the child’s face was near his erect penis and the child’s feet in his face, and kissing the child on the mouth.
The two alleged kisses on the mouth make up the indecent assault charges.
On Tuesday, the court was played recordings of two calls that the complainant made to Mr Glas years later after the alleged offending.
Advocate Simon Thomas, defending, put to the complainant yesterday that these calls, which were recorded without Mr Glas’s knowledge, were “tricking” the priest.
The complainant replied: “I don’t see it that way.”
The alleged victim said that they had made the second call with a witness, in case the recording of the first call could not be used in court.
They said: “I knew that this man would never admit to what he did, he would either deny it, lie about it our twist the truth.”
Advocate Thomas asked the complainant if they had left the call feeling like they had “evidence in the bag”.
The alleged victim replied: “I wouldn’t say ‘in the bag’ – that’s quite a harsh description of it.
“I didn’t come away from it feeling victorious. It was much more of a grounding conversation.
“I knew that I had clear evidence of him not only admitting, but apologising for his actions.”
Under cross-examination from the defence, the complainant maintained that they “never had a doubt” about their allegations.
The complainant recounted how they had reconsidered the alleged abuse from their childhood.
They said they were “spending time with the thoughts, spending time with the memories, not running away from it pretending it didn’t happen”.
Advocate Thomas put to the alleged victim that they had disassociated from their memories, but they denied using this term.
The complainant recounted how they had later sought counselling, which helped them deal with the alleged incidents.
The complainant’s mother started giving her evidence this morning.
She described how Mr Glas gained her trust, and she became “dependent” on him.
The woman cried as she told the court: “I was so gullible. I was so, so gullible.
“How did I let that happen? I’m so ashamed.”
The Deputy Bailiff, Robert MacRae, is presiding.
The jury trial is expected to continue until the middle of next week.