Canberra Priest Father Edward Evans, 84, Faces Fresh Child Abuse Charges

By Michael Inman
The Canberra Times
January 10, 2014

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-priest-father-edward-evans-84-faces-fresh-child-abuse-charges-20140110-30mum.html

A Canberra Catholic priest accused of molesting a child in the 1990s is set to face fresh child abuse charges, a court has heard.

Father Edward Evans, 84, is expected to be charged with a further four offences, including sexual intercourse with a child, when he appears before the ACT Magistrates Court next month.

He was arrested and charged in May last year with three acts of indecency between 1994 and 1997.

He has already pleaded not guilty to those allegations.

The original charges against the German-speaking chaplain relate to his alleged abuse of the girl at his Braddon home three times, twice when she was 11 or 12, and a third time when she was 13.

The fresh charges arise out of the same facts and relate to the same girl.

Court documents said the first incident occurred in 1994, when the priest hosted a morning tea with the girl, her family, and other parishioners.

While the group ate and chatted, Father Evans is alleged to have put his hands inside the girl's pants and squeezed her bottom.

The priest is alleged to have proceeded to squeeze the girl's bottom, grab her breast, or rub his body against her on a number of occasions in the following three years.

The priest has worked as a German-language chaplain for the German community in Canberra, and represents the country's Catholic mission.

Father Evans formerly worked from St Patrick's Catholic Church in Braddon, a church that conducts Masses in German every Sunday.

The matter had been listed for a four-day hearing in March, but Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker abandoned the date on Friday.

Ms Walker instead put the matter down for mention early that month, with time set aside in case it needed to be a committal hearing.

The fresh charges will allow the prosecution to reattempt to have the case committed for trial before a jury in the ACT Supreme Court.

Defence lawyer Ben Aulich had previously successfully argued for the matter to stay in the Magistrates Court.

Ms Walker ordered that Father Evans appear before the court in February so he can be charged with the new offences.