AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites
By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated on 19 November 2014)
This Broken Rites article is an update about a former Catholic priest (from Armidale and Moree in northern New South Wales), who is facing 76 child-abuse charges. The priest, whose name (for legal reasons) cannot be published at this stage, has already pleaded “Guilty” to 45 of the 76 charges, and he will eventually be sentenced on those 45 charges. Meanwhile, he is contesting the additional charges and therefore on 18 November 2014 a magistrate ordered the ex-priest to face a trial in 2015 on some of these additional charges.
The magistrate, Karen Stafford, made this order in the Armidale Local Court after conducting a committal hearing (that is, a preliminary procedure) on three of the additional charges (these are three counts of sexual assault of a person under 16 years of age). The magistrate ruled that, on these three charges, there would be sufficient evidence for a jury to convict the ex-priest of an indictable offence. Magistrate Stafford committed the ex-priest to stand trial on these three charges, and the matter will return to the magistrate on 4 February 2015 for the ex-priest to confirm whether he wishes to exercise his right to have a jury trial on these three charges.
So far, each step in the process has been conducted by a magistrate in the Armidale Local Court but eventually the final steps will be completed by 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 resisting, relate to five alleged victims. These contested charges are a more complex process. After the magistrate finishes all the Local Court procedures, any of these 31 contested charges can be passed on to the NSW District Court, where they would be handled by a judge (and, if necessary, a jury).
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.