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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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A Sydney religious
brother awaiting extradition to New Zealand on child sex charges collapsed in
jail shortly before a bail application in his case. Brother Rodger Maloney,
69, and Catholic priest Fr Raymond John Garchow, 59, face a total of 32 sex
assault charges against former students at a school for boys with
intellectual and learning disabilities. The two members of the
St John of God Catholic Order, who worked for the Marylands School in Christchurch,
are accused of sodomising and indecently assaulting boys as young as eight
between 1966 and 1979. The Downing Centre
Local Court ordered the pair be handed over to NZ authorities. Maloney and Garchow,
who have had prostate and throat cancer respectively and have reportedly
suffered severe depression since their arrests in 2003, are appealing the
order. They have applied for
bail in the Federal Court on health grounds. Justice Rodney Madgwick
granted the pair conditional bail. But Maloney's solicitor
Greg Walsh told the court his client had collapsed at Sydney's Silverwater
jail as he prepared to leave for the bail hearing. His condition was not
immediately clear, Walsh said. "We are attempting
to contact the hospital...there has been no response at this stage," he
told the court. It's understood Maloney
suffered a suspected heart attack. Granting bail, Justice
Madgwick said keeping the pair in custody would worsen their mental problems.
"It is clear that they
are both men in poor health and incarceration will aggravate their problems
of mental health," he said. The men were both of
"outstanding character" aside from the allegations and posed no
flight risk, Madgwick said. The
extradition hearing will continue on April 11 with a directions hearing on
legal matters to be held on March 21 before Madgwick. |
