Graham Capill: NZ's pedophile preacher I CAN'T remember when Graham Capill first appeared on our television screens in New Zealand. I can say, though, that he was a regular commentator on issues of morality in the 1990s, and that he expressed his instransigent, right-wing views with an ebullience that bordered on aggression. There was something vaguely menacing about the man, which made him almost impossible to like. One suspected that, beneath the slick business suit, there lurked a bully: a bully for God. And like all bullies, he could dish out the aggro, but couldn't take it himself. After his first court appearance on a charge of indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 12, he was punched in the face in the street - and crumpled to the ground, whimpering like a child. He pleaded guilty to all the charges that were laid against him, but did not, in his tearful statements to the court, apologize to any of his female victims. Indeed, shortly before his sentencing, he sent an email to some of his friends in which he tried to minimize his offence against one of the girls by claiming she had consented to the act.
The following is Capill's final statement in Christchurch District Court, which sentenced him to nine years in jail: "I am ashamed and greatly regret my past actions. Most appalling is the fact I've hurt those closest to me. I know many people looked to me as a campaigner for moral values. I recognise the utter hypocrisy between what I said in public and did privately. I apologise unreservedly to the people of New Zealand for that. What I said publicly is what I believed and still do. I pray God will have mercy on me and forgive me. I also pray for healing and God's help and love to surround my family whom I've hurt and let down so badly."
Manawatu Standard, July 15, 2005 As the proceedings against Capill drew to a close, I was increasingly reminded of the case of another New Zealand sex offender — Father Peter Gwynne McCormack, 58, who was jailed for four years in 1994 on charges of abusing a girl between 1986, when the girl was 12, and 1992. McCormack was also a high-flier, being vicar-general of the Palmerston North (Catholic) diocese and deputy to the bishop. I believe he was also a monsignor, a papal consul and, ironically, a chaplain to the police. Besides his elevated status, he shared with Capill an inability - or great reluctance - to see that he had done anything wrong. During his questioning by police, his initial line was, I understand, that he couldn't be guilty of abuse, because he had "loved the girl". He thus joined the ranks of those powerful ecclesiastical figures who, though enthusiastic public promoters of confession and contrition, are privately incapable of either. In McCormack's case, I believe the church tried to keep the matter out of court, and effectively suppress the scandal, but was unable to sway the Crown Law Office, which insisted on prosecution. Eventually, McCormack pleaded guilty in an impressively stentorian tone, while towering in the dock between his much shorter guards "like Christ" before Pilate — as my informant later described the scene. But if I remember correctly, the presentencing probation report was pessimistic about the prospects for his reform. Readers with an interest in the MCormack case may like to read an article that appeared in The Dominion Post on August 12, 2005. Click here.  Graham Capill
They're picking on me in jail, says Capill 
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