AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites
(Article posted on 22 December 2014.)
Christian Brother William John Obbens (also known as Brother “Dominic” Obbens) has appeared in court, charged with two counts of indecent assault of “a person under 16 under authority”. Police allege that the offences were committed on one boy, then aged 13, in the late 1980s, while Brother Obbens was a teacher at St Patrick’s Christian Brothers College in Goulburn, south-western New South Wales.
The case had its first mention in Goulburn Local Court on 22 December 2014 when the prosecutors officially filed the charges against Brother Obbens during a brief administrative procedure.
Brother Obbens, aged 69, now of Balmain in Sydney, sat behind his solicitor in court.
As often happens, the court adjourned the case for several weeks while the prosecutors and the defence are dealing with some court documentation. The prosecution must provide a brief of evidence to the defence by 28 January 2015, and the defence is to provide a reply by February 11.
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