AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites
By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated on 24 October 2014)
In late 2014, a New South Wales magistrate is conducting the next steps in the court case of a former Catholic priest (from Moree and Armidale in northern NSW). The priest, whose name (for legal reasons) cannot be published at this stage, has already pleaded “Guilty” to 45 child-sex charges. Now, in the Armidale Local Court, the magistrate has begun preliminary proceedings (a “committal hearing”) to determine how the court system will handle 31 other charges, to which the ex-priest is pleading “Not Guilty”. There are multiple steps in this complex process, and the final steps may not be completed until 2015.
The ex-priest (who turned 61 years of age in mid-2014) allegedly committed the offences in the 1970s and 1980s while he was living in Armidale and Moree.
So far, each step in the process has been conducted by a magistrate in the Armidale Local Court but eventually all the charges will be passed on to a judge in a higher court, the New South Wales District Court.
The 45 charges to which the ex-priest has pleaded “Guilty” involved offences committed against five boys and three girls. For these charges, the District Court will merely need to conduct a sentencing.
The 31 other charges, which the ex-priest is contesting with his “Not Guilty” plea, are a more complex process and these contested charges are a reason why the court has placed a non-publication order on the priest’s name at this stage. After the magistrate finishes the committal hearing, these 31 contested charges would proceed to the NSW District Court, where the ex-priest would have the opportunity to confirm (or otherwise) his “Not Guilty” plea. If a jury is needed, the judge will preside over the jury hearings.
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