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	Jury out on Sex Abuse Case Dominion Post November 29, 2010 http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4402675/Jury-out-on-sex-abuse-case A Wellington jury has retired to consider charges of historic sex abuse against a former Catholic teaching brother at a Masterton college in the 1970s. Bede Hampton, 62, was a Marist brother in his 20s at St Joseph's College when he is alleged to have committed indecencies on two boarders at the school. He pleaded guilty to two of the less serious allegations relating to one boy at the start of his trial last week and admits a sexual incident took place with the other boy but says it did not amount to a criminal act. At the start of the second week of his trial today Justice Forrie Miller discharged Hampton on one indecency charge due to lack of evidence. At 1.30pm the jury retired to consider its verdicts on the remaining 23 charges, including two of sodomy. The Crown says Hampton showed he was willing to take risks in committing offences in parts of the college to which other people had access. He picked on vulnerable boys - one who had a learning difficulty and the other who had lost a parent - and committed more serious offences against the boy who resisted less. But the defence says that because of the time since the alleged events Hampton, who now lives in Australia and is married with two adult children, has lost the chance of calling evidence to refute the claims in the way he could have done at the time. In the case of two people who the complainants' named as having been present when incidents occured, the defence called them and they said they knew nothing about what was alleged.
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