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	Extradition of Clergy Lengthy By Yvonne Martin Stuff [New Zealand] April 8, 2006 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3631266a12855,00.html A battle against extradition by two Catholic clergymen accused of child-sex abuse has become so protracted that their religious order is axeing its financial support. It has been a year since a Federal Court judge in Sydney reserved his decision on extraditing the 59-year-old priest and 70-year-old brother to face charges in New Zealand. Yesterday, the court broke the unusually long wait for justice by announcing the judgment would be released in the next few weeks. With legal fees rising, the St John of God Order has consulted its hierarchy in Rome and decided to pull its support once the matter ends in the Federal Court. "I suspect no-one – I certainly never – expected these proceedings to become so drawn out," said the Australasian head of the order, Brother Peter Burke. "But as they did, with legal costs continuing to mount, I took steps to stem the expenditure, which are now in train." While Burke would not disclose the size of the legal bill, it is estimated by others to be well over $500,000. This comes on top of the $5.1 million the order has already paid to complainants. The snail-pace justice and the order's support of the duo is back under scrutiny after last month's conviction of a former St John of God brother. Bernard Kevin McGrath, 58, was found guilty by a High Court jury in Christchurch on 21 sexual-abuse charges from when he was at Marylands, a Halswell school for intellectually impaired boys, in the 1970s. One of the biggest child-sex trials in New Zealand's history, it highlighted that McGrath was not a rogue brother acting alone. He claimed to have been a sex-abuse victim himself and became part of a network that preyed on young, vulnerable charges, cunningly covering its tracks. At least five St John of God members have been accused of child-sex offences at Marylands between the 1950s and 1970s. Names of the duo facing extradition, and a third excused owing to old age and ill health, were suppressed during McGrath's trial. In February last year, a Sydney magistrate ordered the Australian pair to New Zealand to face 32 sexual-assault charges from their time at Marylands in the 1960s and 1970s. Magistrate Hugh Dillon likened the case to a "war crimes proceeding", saying the doubt lay not in proving the abuse had happened at the school, but who was involved and to what extent. Allegations against the third brother were even more grave, but at 83 and "borderline mentally retarded", he was judged too sick to stand trial. He walked away from 32 counts of sexual assault, buggery and sodomy, dating back half a century, into the care of an institution for the elderly. The other two men appealed to the Federal Court last April, arguing extradition would be unjust and oppressive because of the delay in bringing the charges and the possibility of collusion between complainants. Justice Rodney Madgwick reserved his judgment, saying it would take some time to prepare. No-one expected that would take a year. Melbourne researcher Dr Bernard Barrett, who assists the Broken Rites Australian victim-support group, said: "Surely one whole year is enough. How many years does His Honour need? "This delay is disappointing for the alleged victims at Marylands. If the extradition goes ahead, this will give the two accused men an opportunity to clear their name in court in New Zealand." Jan, whose son McGrath abused at a Catholic boarding school near Sydney in the 1980s, has written to the court's chief justice seeking an explanation for the delay. She had been told, on phoning the court, that it aimed to a deliver a reserved judgment within three months, or six months at a push. She found it "obscene" that the order was paying the legal bills for the pair to fight extradition. Burke has rejected criticism that his order refused to require its three members return to New Zealand to answer the charges. He said he "strongly encouraged" the men to avail themselves to interviews by the New Zealand police, but he had no special powers to order their extradition. "... when it comes to criminal matters, members become `citizens', able to defend criminal charges in the same way as any other Australian citizen," he said. Under Catholic orders, St John of God was obliged to provide legal support for its members, who had no assets or personal funds. Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust manager Ken Clearwater, who works with 41 former Marylands boys, said the delay in justice was "bizarre". "Many of them are angry," he said."They feel as though no-one is listening and that the two men are going to get off on some technicality."
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