NEW ZEALAND
Stuff
24 December 2004
A Sydney magistrate said yesterday he would hand down a decision in mid-February as to whether three St John of God clergymen would be extradited to New Zealand to face historic child abuse charges.
The trio - two brothers and a priest - face 64 charges of sexual abuse of students at Christchurch's Marylands school, which was run by the St John of God order between 1955 and its closure 30 years later.
Magistrate Hugh Dillon heard final submissions in Downing Centre Local Court yesterday from lawyers for the three men and the Australian Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, who are seeking to extradite the trio, aged 82, 69 and 57, - on behalf of New Zealand.
The men were arrested just after Christmas last year, but their case has dragged out the full year, bogged down by a logjam in the Sydney courts and the complex legal argument that developed in the case.
Mr Dillon said at the beginning of the week he had hoped to give his decision this week, but it became apparent yesterday that he would run out of time.
Posted by kshaw at December 23, 2004 10:35 AM