AUSTRALIA
news.com.au
THREE Catholic churches set alight in Melbourne in as many days were for decades the scenes of horrific sexual abuse inflicted on scores of children by notorious paedophile priests.
Police are investigating the cause of the string of suspicious blazes at buildings of worship as neighbouring churches increase security.
Early yesterday, emergency crews rushed to extinguish a blaze at St Mary’s in Dandenong a fire was lit on the church’s alter and another in the storeroom of the 151-year-old building.
The blaze is the third to be investigated at a historic Melbourne church in as many days, with St Mary’s Church in St Kilda East and St James’s Church in Brighton each gutted by flames after being set alight in the early hours of Monday morning.
Links to paedophiles at each of the Catholic churches have sparked suspicion of revenge attacks.
The Dandenong church, which sustained $250,000 worth of damages after firefighters battled for 90 minutes to extinguish the fire this morning, was presided over by convicted paedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell from 1958 to 1986.
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