A Catholic Brother is charged in Victoria and is investigated in NSW

Broken Rites
October 20, 2014

http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/308

Many years ago, Broken Rites began researching "Brother Gabriel Mount", who had worked in Catholic children's homes conduced by the St John of God Brothers in New South Wales and Victoria. We discovered that he eventually became a priest ("Father Roger Mount"), working in Papua New Guinea. In October 2014 he was brought back to Australia, where police charged him with multiple child-sex offences in Melbourne, involving seven Victorian victims, He is scheduled to appear in court in Melbourne again in early 2015. New South Wales police, also, are investigating Father Mount concerning incidents that are alleged to have occurred in NSW.

Broken Rites research ascertained that, early in his church career (in the 1960s and 1970s), Roger Mount was listed in the annual editions of the Australian Catholic Directory as Brother "Gabriel" Mount, a member of a Catholic religious order called the St John of God Brothers. (When men joined this religious order, they normally adopted an ancient "saintly" name  -  hence Brother "Gabriel".)

Later, Brother "Gabriel" Mount transferred to Papua New Guinea, where he left the St John of God order and became a diocesan priest. He reverted to his birth name, becoming Father Roger Mount, and was attached to the Diocese of Port Moresby.  He reached a senior rank in this diocese. His most recent parish, Sogeri, is on the southern end of PNG's famous Kokoda Track.

In October 2014, Father Roger Melville Mount (now aged 72) was deported from Papua New Guinea to Australia. On arrival in Cairns, he was arrested by police, who then obtained a court order for Mount to be extradited to Victoria. He was taken to Victoria by detectives from the Sano Taskforce in the Victoria Police sex crime squad. This taskforce was established to investigate allegations regarding religious organisations.  

The Victoria Police were investigating certain incidents that allegedly occurred between 1968 and 1974 while Brother "Gabriel" Mount was working with the St John of God Brothers at Greensborough (in Melbourne's north-east).

At Greensborough, the St John of God Brothers ran a home called "Churinga", for disadvantaged and vulnerable boys.
Broken Rites research found that, in the 1971 edition of the Australian Catholic Directory, Brother Gabriel Mount was listed as the Prior (i.e., the superior) at "Churinga", where there were also five other Brothers.

On 20 October 2014, Roger Melville Mount appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court. He was charged with 62 offences, comprising 40 counts of indecent assault, 14 counts of buggery, five counts of gross indecency and three counts of unlawful assault - allegedly committed between 1968 and 1974 against seven victims in the Melbourne region.

Mount did not apply for bail but, according to his lawyer, he is likely to do so in future. He was therefore remanded in custody.

The magistrate scheduled Mount to re-appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court in early 2015 for the next step in the prosecution process.

The Victorian court proceedings are confined to incidents that allegedly occurred within Victoria. Brother "Gabriel" Mount also worked at another St John of God boys' home, called "Kendall Grange", situated at Morisset (between Sydney and Newcastle). The Lake Macquarie Detectives Office (in the NSW Police) is gathering information about certain alleged incidents at the Morriset institution.