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	These Cases Are Currently before (or Coming up In) Australian Courts Broken Rites July 8, 2009 http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page180-current-court-cases.html A religious-order member is charged in Sydney The New South Wales police announced in a news release on 7 July 2009 that they have charged a man from a Catholic religious order with sexual offences, allegedly committed against a female child in Sydney. The offences allegedly occurred between 1975 and 1980 when the man's religious order had a presence in the St Ives district. The charges relate to six alleged incidents involving indecency. The girl was aged 12 at the time of the first alleged incident. The incidents allegedly occurred at the girl's home. The charged man, now aged 77, has been living in recent years with his religious order at a monastery in suburban Melbourne. At 2pm on 7 July 2009, the man attended Hornsby Police Station in north-western Sydney, where he was arrested by local detectives investigating the complaints The charged man was granted conditional bail pending his court appearance. The matter is scheduled for a first mention at Hornsby Local Court in a few weeks' time. The police officer who handled the investigation is Plain Clothes Senior Constable Rebecca Dummett, of the Hornsby Detectives Office, Kuring Gai Local Area Command. The religious order of the charged man consists of a number of priests, together with a number of religious Brothers. The NSW Police news release referred to the charged man as a "priest" but he is listed in his religious order as "Brother", not Father. The police news release also referred to him as a "FORMER" priest but this is presumably because, at age 77, this Brother is retired from active duties, although he is still living with other priests and religious brothers within his religious order. Priest charged regarding a girl, aged 12 On 18 June 2009, Queensland police charged a Catholic priest with the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl. Police said they issued the 64-year-old priest — now living in Brisbane — with a notice to appear in court in relation to charges of indecent treatment of a child and indecent dealing. Detective Inspector Mick Niland said the offences were alleged to have occurred between 1977 and 1981 when the priest, then aged between 32 and 36, was working in the Ipswich district, west of Brisbane. The girl was 12 when the alleged abuse began. "This came about as the result of a protracted investigation by the Ipswich Criminal Investigation Branch over a number of months," Insp Niland said. Police would not reveal exactly where the alleged offences occurred, except to say that they took place "somewhere in the Ipswich police district". The Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane (which includes the Ipswich district) said on 22 June 2009 that the priest has now stood down from his current parish and is on leave from any pastoral duties as a result of the allegations. He is still a priest of the archdiocese. The case is scheduled to come before Ipswich Magistrates Court on a future date. Priest pleads guilty on child-sex and child-porn charges Father Paul Pavlou, 50, of the Melbourne Catholic archdiocese, was convicted in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on 29 June 2009 after pleading guilty to committing an indecent act against a 14-year-old boy and possessing child pornography. See more here. Christian Brother jailed Christian Brother John Francis Coswello, 70, was jailed on 22 June 2009 for committing sexual offences against a vulnerable 12-year-old boy in a Melbourne orphanage. See the Broken Rites report here. Priest jailed again Father Desmond Gannon, who has been jailed previously for sexually abusing boys in the Melbourne Catholic archdiocese, was jailed again on 10 June 2009 after another of his many victims contacted the police. See a comprehensive Broken Rites article about Gannon's many court appearances here. Other cases currently before the courts 1. Fr Charlie Barnett A former Catholic priest, Charles Alfred Barnett, 67, has been extradited from Indonesia to Australia to face child-sex charges. South Australian police allege that Father Barnett committed sexual offences against a number of boys, aged between 12 and 17, in South Australian country towns between 1977 and 1983 and in Adelaide in 1994. Father Charles Barnett was ordained into the Vincentian religious order. He also ministered in Queensland and New South Wales. See more from Broken Rites here. 2. Br Robert Best Brother Robert Charles Best, a member of the Victoria-Tasmania province of Christian Brothers, taught at Catholic boys' schools in Ballarat East, Box Hill and Geelong in the 1970s and 1980s. He is scheduled to face court proceedings regarding alleged child-sex offences. The prosecution file was compiled by Detective Sergeant Kevin Carson, of the Ballarat Criminal Investigation Unit of the Victoria Police. Best was convicted in 1996 for sexual child-abuse, committed in the 1970s at Ballarat East. See some background here. 3. Fr Peter Brock Father Peter Julian Brock, 63, of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, appeared in court again on 11 March 2009, charged with sex offences against two boys. He was ordered to re-appear in court in mid-2009. See more from Broken Rites here. 4. Fr John Denham On 8 July 2009, Father John Sidney Denham, of the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic diocese, pleaded guilty in Newcastle Local Court to multiple offences against boys. He is in jail, awaiting sentence. See a Broken Rites report here and see some background from Broken Rites here. 5. Fr Peter Dwyer Father Peter Dwyer, 65 (now a priest of the Armidale diocese in northern New South Wales), has appeared in court and is on bail pending further court proceedings in 2009 regarding sexual offences, allegedly committed when he formerly worked at St Stanislaus College, Bathurst. See more here. 6. Br John Gaven Brother John Gaven, 66, a member of the Vincentian religious order, living at Marsfield (Sydney), has appeared in court regarding sexual offences, allegedly committed when he worked at St Stanislaus College, Bathurst. He is on bail, awaiting further court proceedings during 2009. See more here. 7. Fr John Houston, visting New South Wales A Catholic priest, John Charles Houston, 54, appeared in Belmont Local Court (near Newcastle in New South Wales) in April 2009, accused of filming boys showering during a surf lifesaving carnival. He was ordered to reappear in court on a later date. See more here. 8. Fr Hugh Murray On 25 June 2009, a Sydney court was given details of charges against Fr Hugh Edward Murray, 79, of Marsfield, Sydney, involving offences allegedly committed against three boys from St Stanislaus College, Bathurst NSW (a school operated by the Vincentian Fathers), in the 1960s and 1970s. See more here. 9. Br Ross Murrin Marist Brother Ross Francis Murrin is awaiting sentence in Sydney after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a boy at St Gregory's College, Campbelltown, western Sydney. Ross Murrin is already in jail after being convicted of sexual offences against boys at an earlier school at Daceyville in Sydney's east. He is also the subject of complaints to police in Cairns, Queensland. See a comprehensive article from Broken Rites here. 10. Fr David O'Hearn Father David O'Hearn, 47, of the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic diocese, appeared in Newcastle Local Court on 11 March 2009, where he was charged with sexual offences against two boys in the early 1990s -- one boy in the Cessnock parish and the other in the Windale parish. The charges are listed for mention again at Newcastle Local Court at an early date, for an indication about about how the case will proceed. See more from Broken Rites here. 11. Fr Kevin Phillips Father Kevin Francis Phillips, 58, appeared in court in Sydney on 5 May 2009, charged with offences against a student at St Stanislaus' College in Bathurst, New South Wales. Father Phillips' current address was given as a parish in Mackay in central Queensland. The case came up for a brief mention in court again on 23 June 2009, when a magistrate adjourned the matter so lawyers can analyse a computer hard-drive seized by detectives during his arrest in May 2009. The case is listed for another mention in court later in 2009. See more here. 12. Fr Phil Robson Father Philip Robson, a priest of the Vincentian religious order, appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre local court on 19 February 2009, charged with child-sex offences allegedly committed at St Stanislaus College, Bathurst. Robson is facing five charges of aggravated sexual assault and indecent assault. Fr Philip Robson, aged 60, is a board member, former teacher and former director of discipline at St Stanislaus College, Bathurst NSW. He is currently on bail, awaiting further court proceedings. See more here. 13. Fr Kel Sharkey New South Wales detectives have charged a priest of the Wollongong Diocese, Father Kelvin Gerald Sharkey, 81, with two counts of buggery and 10 counts of indecent assault (that is, indecent touching), allegedly committed against an altar boy in a Wollongong parish, in the early 1970s, beginning when the boy was ten years old. The matter has been mentioned in Wollongong Local Court, with further proceedings due during 2009. Police interviewed Kelvin Sharkey in Melbourne, where he has been living since 1996. He is still classified as a "supplementary priest" of the Wollongong Diocese. See more from Broken Rites here. 14. Fr Brian Spillane In the 1980s Father Brian Joseph Spillane was a priest in the Vincentian Fathers religious order. Spillane, 65, has been charged with multiple sexual offences against boys, aged as young as 11, in the 1980s, at St Stanislaus College, Bathurst, NSW. He is also charged with the indecent assault of two young girls (allegedly at Marsfield, Sydney, in 1979-1980). Spillane is on bail, awaiting further court proceedings in 2009. See more here. 15. A Toowoomba Catholic school teacher Queensland police have charged one of the Catholic Church's nominated "child protection officers" — a primary teacher in a Toowoomba Catholic school — with committing sexual offences against young girls in his school. The case is scheduled for court hearings during 2009. See more from Broken Rites here. 16. Br Lambert Wise, Adelaide A Christian Brother raped an eleven-year old boy who was grieving over his father's sudden death, according to allegations in the South Australian District Court. Francis Lambert Wise (born 21 December 1920) is accused of two counts of buggery and five of indecent assault against two students, dating back to 1964 and 1965, at a Christian Brothers College in Adelaide. The case is still proceeding in 2009. See more from Broken Rites here. Recent court cases 1. Father Roger Michael Bellemore In 2008, this Marist priest was sentenced in Tasmania to four years' jail for offences against school boys. See more from Broken Rites here. 2. Fr Tom Brennan In Newcastle Local Court in New South Wales on 9 March 2009, Father Thomas Brennan (aged 71) was convicted of making a false written statement in 1998. In the 1998 statement, Brennan said that he could not remember receiving a series of child sex-abuse complaints (about another priest) while Brennan was the headmaster of a Catholic boys' secondary school in the 1970s. See more from Broken Rites here. 3. Father Adelrick D'Cruz This priest, aged 78, was convicted in the Victorian County Court at Shepparton in 2008 after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting a teenage girl in a north-eastern Victoria parish 24 years previously. D'Cruz had ministered in the Sandhurst diocese in northern Victoria and later did freelance ministry in the Anglo-Indian community in Melbourne. See more from Broken Rites here. 4. Br "David" Down Christian Brother Graeme James Down indecently touched young Catholic school boys in Western Australia in the 1980s. In 2008 he received a second jail sentence after more victims contacted the police. See more from Broken Rites here. 5. Fr Paul Evans, Boys' Town, NSW On 3 October 2008 Father Paul Raymond Evans was sentenced to 15 years' jail (with parole possible after nine and a half years) after a Sydney jury found him guilty of multiple sex offences against boys in the 1970s and 1980s, while he was a dormitory master at Boys' Town (a Catholic institution for troubled teenagers) in Engadine, south of Sydney. After 1988, Evans worked in parishes in the Broken Bay diocese in Sydney's north. See a comprehensive Broken Rites article here. 6. Fr John Haines In the Victorian County Court on 4 November 2008, Father Edmund John Haines (of the Melbourne Catholic archdiocese, based in the Geelong district) was sentenced to four years and three months jail (with a non-parole period of two years six months) after he pleaded guilty to six counts of an indecent act with a boy under 16, procurement of a minor for child pornography and possessing child pornography. Haines was previously a priest in Papua New Guinea. See more from Broken Rites here. 7. Marist Brother Kostka In the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court in 2008, Marist Brother John William Chute, 75, whose religious name is "Brother Kostka" (in honour of a 16th Century saint), was jailed after pleading guilty to sexually molesting four students when they were aged 13 and 14 at Canberra's Marist College in the 1980s. See more from Broken Rites here. 8. Br Rodger Moloney This member of the St John of God Brothers has worked in Australia and New Zealand. In 2008 in New Zealand, Rodger William Moloney, 73, was sentenced to two years nine months jail for sexually abusing educationally-disadvantaged boys in Christchurch, N.Z., in the 1970s. The court was told that, after completing his sentence, he would be deported to Australia. Any Australian victims of Moloney should have a chat with the police sexual offences units in Australia. See the Broken Rites report on Moloney here. And see a Broken Rites background story about the St John of God Brothers in Australia here. 9. Br Ross Murrin In 2008, Marist Brother Ross Francis Murrin was sentenced to 39 months' jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months, after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting Catholic primary school boys in the 1970s. In a further court hearing on 13 February 2009, Murrin also pleaded guilty to sexually abusing another boy at a later school. See more from Broken Rites here. 10. Fr Michael Reis, MSC religious order Father Michael Francis Reis (known as Mick Reis), who has taught at Monivae College in Victoria and Downlands College in Queensland, was sentenced in Brisbane on 6 November 2008 to 18 months jail (with a minimum of six months) for offences against two young girls in the 1980s and 1990s. See more from Broken Rites here. Previous court cases * Broken Rites Australia was formed in 1992. Since then, 115 Catholic priests and brothers have been sentenced in Australian court cases in which Broken Rites has had an involvement. These 115 court cases are on the top half of our Black Collar Crime page. In addition, on the bottom half of the page, there are a number of out-of-court cases in which Broken Rites has had an involvement. See the Broken Rites "Black Collar Crime" page here.
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