Ex-priest Charged with Sex Abuse Has Bail Revoked

By Breanna Chillingworth
Gippsland Times
July 24, 2015

http://www.gippslandtimes.com.au/story/3234006/ex-priest-put-behind-bars/?cs=2452

A defrocked priest charged with historic child sex abuse offences has had his bail revoked, after the DPP took a challenge to the Supreme Court.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, appeared in the Downing Centre District Court yesterday morning for a preliminary hearing into dozens of allegations of historic child sex offences – the first court appearance since he was ordered into custody on July 16.

The Leader can reveal the man had his bail revoked by Justice Lucy McCallum during a hearing spanning two days in the state’s Supreme Court last week.

Earlier this month, the Director of Public Prosecutions submitted an application to the court, challenging the man’s bail on several grounds before the bail determination was made, forcing him into custody.

The accused had been on bail for the charges since his arrest in 2012 by detectives attached to Strike Force Glenroe.

During Thursday's proceedings, Judge Ian McClintock set a new trial date for the accused, who is standing trial on more than 50 separate sexual and indecent assault charges.

After consent from both the DPP and the defence, the trial date was set for January 25 – one week after it was initially set down for.

The court was told the trial was expected to span four weeks and would be heard in the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney.

Judge McClintock also adjourned 13 other charges for sentence next year, following the accused’s guilty pleas in Armidale Local Court in 2014.

Yesterday, the accused made no application for bail and it was formally refused.

He will remain behind bars until the case heads to trial in January next year.

Strike Force Glenroe was set up by detectives from the Sex Crimes Squad and the New England and Barwon commands in July 2012 to investigate claims of alleged sexual abuse in the Moree and Armidale areas in the 1970s and ’80s.