AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites
Catholic Church authorities knowingly kept a child-molester (Father Michael Aulsebrook) in the priesthood and even promoted him to be in charge of a school, according to statements made in an Australian criminal court in 2011. Now Aulsebrook is no longer in the priesthood but in 2014 police are conducting further investigations about his past.
Michael Scott Aulsebrook appeared in the Melbourne County Court on 22 August 2011 (when he was aged 55) for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to multiple incidents of indecent assault, committed against a 12-year-old boy.
The court was told that this was not the only boy who lodged a complaint about Aulsebrook. A separate complaint in 1993 by another boy had been settled by the church, in private, out-of-court.
Aulsebrook’s lawyer conceded that Aulsebrook’s offending was not isolated, the court was told.
Representatives of the church gave character evidence for Aulsebrook and were in court at the sentencing to show their support for him (rather than supporting the victim).
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