VIDEO: Christian Brother Chris Rafferty, now in Sydney, is facing charges in Goulburn

Broken Rites
August 25, 2015

http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/352

Christian Brother Christopher Rafferty, now aged 63, from Sydney, appeared in court on 19 August 2015, charged with child-sex offences allegedly committed in the 1980s while he was working at St Patrick's College in Goulburn, in south-western New South Wales. The court case will resume on a future date in what could be a multi-step process. In recent years, until his arrest, Brother Rafferty has been working (and residing) at a Catholic boys' school (St Pius X College) in Chatswood, on Sydney's North Shore. Before joining St Pius X College, Br Rafferty had been deputy headmaster of St Mary’s Cathedral College in central Sydney.

Police arrested Rafferty at 8.05 am on 4 March 2015. The arrest was conducted not at the Christian Brothers' Chatswood residence but at a different address — a residential property in another suburb (Victoria Road, Ryde). Therefore, in court documents, Rafferty is listed as living at the Ryde address, not the Chatswood one.

According to court documents, the offences allegedly were committed between 1984 and 1987 upon one boy who was a student at St Patrick's College, Goulburn. The earliest charge relates to when the boy was aged 13. At the time of the alleged assaults, the accused man (then aged in his thirties) was allegedly a Christian Brother at the Goulburn school.

• two counts of indecent assault;
• two counts of sexual assault;
• three counts of homosexual intercourse with a pupil; and
• one count of committing an act of indecency.

As from 15 April 2015, the Rafferty matter in the hands of magistrates at the Goulburn Local Court. The Rafferty matter came up for a administrative mention in this court on 19 August 2015, and the magistrate adjourned the matter to a future date, when the court will consider the arrangements for a committal hearing.

Rafferty has not yet entered pleas to the charges..

The charges against Rafferty  have been laid by a special unit of NSW Police detectives (called Strike Force Charish), which has been formed to investigate allegations of child-sex offences said to have been committed (by several alleged offenders) between 1978 and 1989 at St Patrick's College in Goulburn involving numerous victims. This investigation unit is located at the Goulburn Detectives Office. Other Christian Brothers are currently before the courts on charges regarding children in Goulburn.

The investigation by the Goulburn detectives is continuing.

Announcing its staffing for 2015, St Pius X College Chatswood stated in its "Woodchatta" news bulletin (issue No. 8, dated 3 December 2014):

• "Br Rafferty continues on staff [for 2015] and will take an active role in managing Huntington House at Terrigal for which the College now has responsibility... Br Rafferty will continue to reside in the Brothers’ community here at the [Chatswood] school."

Another newsletter from St Pius College Chatswood listed Brother Chris Rafferty as:
"Pastoral Care Co-ordinator".

In February 2015, a number of Christian Brothers were still residing in a Brothers' community associated with the St Pius X College campus. However, by then, the staff of St Pius X College Chatswood was almost completely composed of lay teachers (including a lay principal, Mr John Couani), with Brother Chris Rafferty being the only Christian Brother on the school's staff list for 2015.

Brother Rafferty was working and living at the Chatswood campus until the end of February 2015, by which time the school had learned that Brother Rafferty was about to be charged by police regarding the Goulburn school. Brother Rafferty was then transferred to residential accommodation in Victoria Road, Ryde. Thus, by the time Brother Rafferty was officially charged by police on Wednesday morning 4 March 2014, he was no longer associated with St Pius X College. The detectives interviewed him at the Ryde residence and took him to the Ryde police station to be charged (and then to Burwood Local Court), with his new address being officially listed as the residence in Victoria Road, Ryde.

On the afternoon of 4 March 2015 (a few hours after police charged Brother Christopher Rafferty, the lay principal of St Pius X College Chatswood (Mr John Couani) issued a circular to parents, stating (in the opening paragraphs):

"Dear Parents/Caregivers

"I was informed by the Professional Standards Office of the Christian Brothers Oceania Province that they have placed a Brother on staff on leave and as a result he is no longer at the College.

"This action was taken on the advice of NSW Police investigating allegations of abuse that have been made against this Brother, dating back some 25 years ago. The Brother has today been charged by Police in relation to alleged historical sexual and indecent assaults in the Goulburn area..."

The New South Wales Police media unit has issued still photos, plus some video footage, of detectives taking a 63-year-old man to the Ryde police station. The photos and the video footage can been seen on the website of the Goulburn Post newspaper (the still photos are towards the top of the page and the video footage is towards the bottom). To see this material, click HERE.