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	Priest Charged with Abuse By Dan Proudman The Sydney Morning Herald February 6, 2009 http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/priest-charged-with-abuse/2009/02/05/1233423405327.html A CATHOLIC priest has been charged with sexually abusing a young boy during his term as assistant parish priest at Cessnock nearly 20 years ago. Father David O'Hearn, 47, presented himself at Maitland police station yesterday before detectives from Strike Force Georgiana charged him with seven offences: five counts of sexually assaulting a child under 16 and two counts of indecently assaulting a child under 16. Father O'Hearn will appear in Newcastle Local Court on March 11. He is the fifth person to be charged by the strike force, which was set up in late 2007 to investigate allegations of child abuse in the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. Father O'Hearn was the assistant parish priest at Cessnock in the early 1990s. In a statement to staff following the charges, the Bishop, Michael Malone, said it was with a "deep sense of regret" that he had to inform them of the charges. "The diocese will continue to co-operate fully with the police in this matter in the interests of a just outcome being achieved," Bishop Malone said. Father O'Hearn was ordained in 1987 and was the assistant parish priest at Muswellbrook before moving to Cessnock in 1990. He held another six posts as parish priest before he was stood down while at Nelson Bay last year.
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