Priest on trial for child sex offences

A man who accused a Catholic priest of sexually abusing him as a teenager thirty years ago has told a Perth court the incidents left him feeling shocked and traumatised.

Glenn Humphreys is accused of sexually abusing the man, who is now aged in his 40s, between 1983 and 1986.

In the District Court today, the man said Father Humphreys assaulted him for the first time at a southern suburbs school in 1983 before the contact escalated.

"I can remember that I started recognising that there was more touch than I was comfortable with," he said.

Father Humphreys has admitted to engaging in morally "inappropriate behaviour" with the man but denies doing anything illegal.

His lawyer, Seamus Rafferty, told the court Father Humphreys did not have sex with the man.

He said his conduct was unpleasant but was not unlawful and had occurred with the man's consent.

"Think of it in the context of the time," he said.

The alleged victim read a letter of apology he had received from Father Humphreys in 2012 to the court.

In the letter, Father Humphreys offered a "sincere apology" and told the man he did not mean to hurt or disrespect him.