Crown tries to establish pattern of behaviour in child sex abuse case against Catholic brother

ABC News
August 26, 2015

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-26/crown-tries-to-establish-pattern-of-behaviour-in-case-against-c/6725810

A Newcastle court has heard hundreds of pages of evidence are being considered by the Crown, as part of efforts to establish a pattern of behaviour by a Catholic brother extradited from New Zealand to face child sex charges.

Bernard Kevin McGrath, 68, is facing 252 child sex charges, relating to 35 victims, dating back to the 1970s.

The alleged offences happened in the Lake Macquarie region, near Newcastle.

Sporting a thinning grey goatee beard, McGrath showed little emotion as he appeared by audio visual link in Newcastle Local Court today.

The police brief is 8,000 pages long, and the court was today told an additional 500 pages of so called 'tendency evidence' material is now being assessed.

That evidence will be used to establish a pattern of behaviour.

The Crown and defence agreed to a six-week adjournment so they could assess that material.