(AUSTRALIA)
The West Australian/Perth Now [Perth, Australia]
January 10, 2022
By Robyn Muth, Australian Associated Press
A retired paediatric surgeon and Anglican priest appointed to investigate child abuse within the church has fronted court accused of historic sex offences.
Mervyn Meredith Lander faces two counts of the unlawful and indecent treatment of a boy under the age of 17.
Both offences are alleged to have occurred in Brisbane in 1988, court documents reveal.
Lander, 77, appeared briefly in the Brisbane Arrest Court on Monday.
He was not required to enter a plea and the case was remanded for mention in March.
Lander was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2021.
He and his wife were appointed Members of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to their respective fields of medicine and to the Anglican Church.
Lander is also listed as a long-serving priest at St Paul’s Anglican Church, East Brisbane.
In 1995, Lander was appointed to the Brisbane Diocese committee to establish protocols dealing with accusations of abuse within the church.