A HUNTER-based Catholic priest says he was mistakenly convicted of crimes rightly belonging to notorious paedophile priest Vincent Ryan.
The 83-year-old Ryan, known as the "Merewether monster', admitted in the mid-1990s to sexually abusing 27 young boys in a bid to "wipe the slate clean".
The priest who cannot be named denies assaulting two boys from youth groups he ran in Cessnock and Muswellbrook, pointing the finger at Ryan instead.
The first boy was 13 in 1987 when he was assaulted at the presbytery where he'd been invited by the priest "to have a chat".
The second victim was an altar boy and member of the Cessnock youth group in 1990 where the man was the assistant parish priest and Vince Ryan was the parish priest.
The second victim's evidence was that his abuser would pick him up in a white car which he thought was either a Holden or Toyota Camry.
At the time Ryan drove a white Holden Commodore and the offender drove a red Camry.
The boy also gave a description of his offender that the court heard was "more consistent with the appearance of Vincent Ryan".
It was put to him in cross examination, that he may have mistaken his abuser for Ryan - which he firmly denied.
During the trial, Ryan gave evidence that in the mid-1990s he confessed to police the details of offences on 27 boys, including 18 victims unknown to police.
Ryan said he was certain the Cessnock boy was not among his victims and he did not know him. He did not know his family and had never been to their home.
In a separate trial Ryan was however convicted of further offences that he had never admitted, against two additional victims.
The abuser applied to the Court of Criminal Appeal to have his convictions overturned, based on the "fresh evidence" that Ryan lied about the number of crimes he committed and the number of victims involved.
However, the appeals court found that the evidence was only admissible in relation to Ryan's credibility, and would have carried little weight. There would only have been a miscarriage of justice if the jury was entitled to know about Ryan's fresh convictions.
On that basis, the court found that the fresh evidence about Ryan's offending against the additional two victims would not have swayed the jury to acquit, and the appeal was refused.
