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	3 Australians Plead Not Guilty to Child Sex Abuse Associated Press, carried in International Herald Tribune (France) September 15, 2008 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/15/asia/AS-Australia-Sex-Abuse-Probe.php SYDNEY, Australia: Three former staff members of an exclusive Roman Catholic boarding school pleaded not guilty Monday to more than 100 charges related to allegations of child sexual abuse at the institution, with their lawyer calling the case a "witch hunt." Vincentian brother John Gaven, priest and former school President Peter Dwyer and former priest Brian Spillane were charged following a police investigation into accusations of abuse in the 1970s and '80s at St. Stanislaus' College in the city of Bathurst, 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Sydney. The accusers say they were molested and forced to commit sex acts on each other during hypnotic late-night prayer and chanting sessions at the school. One of the complainants, a man in his 30s who has accused all three men of assault, told Bathurst Local Court on Monday that he had witnessed the abuse of up to 60 fellow students. The lawyer for all three men, Greg Walsh, entered not guilty pleas on behalf of his clients. Walsh told the judge the men had no prior convictions and were of good character. Spillane, 65, of Sydney, faces 93 charges relating to alleged sexual assaults against 13 people, including several counts of sexual intercourse with students and acts of gross indecency. He was the only one of the three accused to appear in court Monday. He made no comment to reporters. Prosecutor Elizabeth Walker told the court the case was rapidly expanding, and as many as 40 additional people may lodge complaints against Spillane, who served as a teacher and chaplain at the school during the 1970s and '80s. Outside the court, Walsh said the claims against his clients had ballooned into "mass hysteria and moral panic." "It's a witch hunt," he told reporters. "These men are innocent. The allegations are bizarre and they have arisen in very suspicious circumstances." Walsh declined to comment on any evidence in the case. He has previously called the case "highly contaminated," in part because he said the accusers' complaints were based on scientifically questionable repressed memories. Pope Benedict XVI visited Australia in July as part of the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day festival and publicly condemned sexual predators in the church, apologizing to their victims. Gaven, 66, and Dwyer, 65, face 32 child sex charges between them. Gaven is a layperson of a religious order called the Vincentians. Dwyer serves as a priest in Armidale, about 300 miles (500 kilometers) north of Sydney. Gaven worked in several positions at the school over a period of about 15 years, including serving as a groundskeeper, dormitory supervisor and, for a short time, the school's vice president, St. Stanislaus Principal John Edwards said. He left the school in the early 1990s. Dwyer worked at the school as a music teacher and then served as its president from 1980 to 1992, Edwards said. All three men have been released on bail. They are scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 10.
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