NEW ZEALAND
Christchurch Court News
By David Clarkson
Former Catholic priest and convicted sex offender Bernard Kevin McGrath has been granted bail while he considers his stance on 252 fresh sex abuse charges on which he faces extradition to Australia.
The 65-year-old, who was jailed for offending against boys at Marylands School in Christchurch, in 2006, flew back to the city from Sri Lanka on Thursday and was arrested on Friday after the issuing of the fresh charges in Australia.
The new charges allege he has repeatedly raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at church-run institutions in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese over several decades.
He was due to fly back to Christchurch from Sri Lanka next Saturday but he brought the flight forward.
Defence counsel Phillip Allan said McGrath had returned from Sri Lanka knowing that he would be arrested. He would have seen news reports on the Stuff website before his return to New Zealand.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.