Boozy ex-Catholic bishop convicted of sex abuse crimes
Aaron Bunch |
A former high-ranking Catholic known for hosting boozy shirts-off parties has shown no emotion as he was convicted of sexually abusing two young Aboriginal men.
In a watershed moment in the clergy abuse scandal, former Bishop of Broome Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, was found guilty of 13 sex offences on Thursday following a jury trial in the West Australian District Court.
He was taken into custody soon after.
The offending between 2010 and 2019 included one count of sexual penetration without consent and a dozen unlawful and indecent assault charges.
Saunders was acquitted of six other charges, including two counts of indecently dealing with a child over 16 under his authority and four counts of unlawful and indecent assault.
He was ordained as the second Broome bishop in 1996 and presided over 13 schools and nine parishes, before stepping aside in 2020 when the sex abuse claims became public.
Pope Francis accepted his resignation a year later.
Unless acquitted on appeal, Saunders would be the highest-ranking Catholic in Australia convicted of sexual abuse while a member of the clergy.
The late Cardinal George Pell was found guilty in 2018 but later acquitted by the High Court of raping one choirboy and molesting another in 1996.
The current Bishop of Broome, Tim Norton, issued an apology to Saunders’ victims and the Kimberley diocese after the verdict was delivered.
“We are acutely aware that the victims of this betrayal are not just those who have told their stories to police and before the court,” he said.
“The hurt extends to those who have placed their trust in our leadership and our Church.”
Outside court, Saunders’ solicitor David Manera said his client was “deeply affected” by the verdict and it was his first time behind bars.
Prosecutors said Saunders, known as Brother B by his victims, put on alcohol-fuelled parties at Catholic Church-owned properties to get access to Aboriginal boys and men so he could sexually assault them.
“The accused had a sexual interest in young Aboriginal men and a tendency to act on that interest when the opportunity presented itself,” prosecutor Adam Ebell said.
Saunders, who studied law before becoming the first diocesan priest ordained in WA’s Kimberley region in 1976, exploited the power imbalance between himself and the younger men, he said.
The main complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he was aged 16 when the then-bishop started grooming him at a Broome home in regular visits during which he was given alcohol.
The interactions over the decade that followed involved kissing, touching of private areas and penetrative sex.
The man, now aged 34, gave evidence that on one occasion he met Saunders at a Kununurra hotel with a bottle shop after mass in the town.
Saunders touched the man’s genitals and kissed him in a room.
The jury heard the pair consumed alcohol together at another location near a lake before Saunders sexually assaulted the man.
On another alcohol-fuelled occasion at a beach house near Broome, Saunders grabbed the man’s hand and had him perform a sex act on the clergyman.
The man said he forcefully protested and the bishop told him to watch his language.
Afterwards, Saunders gave the man alcohol and cigarettes and told him he was “one of my best”, the jury heard.
Saunders denied the sexual assaults took place.
His lawyer Tony Hager attacked the three complainants, saying they were convicted criminals with long records who had abused alcohol and drugs during their lives, which impacted their memories.
One of the complainants’ allegations was dismissed by the jury.
In his final address to jurors, Mr Hager said the retired clergyman didn’t deny having boozy parties paid for with church funds, where young men often stripped off their shirts and shorts.
But he wasn’t on trial for that, Mr Hager said.
He conceded his client’s behaviour was at times unusual, boozy, and even sleazy.
Multiple witnesses, including former church employees, gave evidence during the trial about Saunders’ BBQ parties and the purchase of alcohol using church funds.
Saunders was initially on trial for 30 sexual assault charges, but four charges related to a child under the age of 13 were removed from the prosecution on the first day of proceedings.
He was acquitted of a further seven charges mid-trial due to insufficient evidence being presented to the jury.
Saunders was remanded in custody, and the matter was adjourned until September 21 for a sentencing hearing.
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National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
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AAP