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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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An Australian priest and
religious brother will be extradited to New Zealand to face child sex charges
dating back 50 years. The Sydney Morning
Herald reports that Fr Raymond John Garchow, 57, and Br Rodger Maloney, 70,
both worked at the Marylands School in Christchurch. They, along with Br
William Lebler, now 83, are accused of carrying out indecent acts and sodomy
on young boys at the New Zealand boarding school, which was funded by the St
John of God Catholic order, between 1955 and 1979. They face a total of 61
charges of sexual assault against the boys, many of them with mental
disabilities and learning difficulties. In Sydney's Downing
Centre Local Court, Magistrate Hugh Dillion ordered Garchow and Maloney be
extradited to New Zealand on a date to be set pending an appeal. Lebler, who was deemed
"borderline mentally retarded" by psychiatrists, was released by
the court and escaped extradition. He therefore will not be tried for his
alleged crimes. Mr Dillion said the two
other men would be extradited to face a prospective trial in New Zealand
despite their age and medical conditions. Maloney and Garchow
have had cancer of the prostate and throat, respectively, and were reported
to have suffered severe depression since their arrest in 2003. "The opponents
(Garchow and Maloney) are accused of terrible abuse of very vulnerable
children committed to their care," Mr Dillion said in his judgment.
"The alleged breaches of trust over lengthy periods with numbers of boys
by all the opponents are almost as bad as could be imagined." Maloney, who started
working at the Marylands School in 1960, was responsible for the school's
management and administration until 1977. He is alleged to have molested 11
boys in that time. Garchow, who was
ordained a priest in August 1987, began work at the school in 1964 teaching
the students and acting as a dormitory supervisor. It is alleged he molested
three boys aged under 16 between 1969 and 1974. Both men were tracked
down by police in Australia after Christchurch authorities began collating
complaints from alleged victims in 2002 which sparked a full-scale
investigation. Maloney and Garchow's
lawyers applied for a bail application, to be heard in the Federal Court. An
appeal against extradition is also planned. |
