Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Former St John of God
brothers fighting prosecution for child-sex abuse have lost their Supreme
Court bid to have the charges thrown out. Bernard Kevin McGrath
and another former Catholic priest with name suppression appealed to the
Supreme Court to overturn charges, alleging the evidence against them was too
old to allow them a fair trial, a court judgment said. But Supreme Court
Justices Gault and Tipping said the men must go to trial before they could
appeal against any charges. The former priests were
committed to trial on numerous charges of sexual offending against boys aged
under 16 between 1968 and 1977, according to the Supreme Court judgment. Appeals by the men
relating to the age of evidence in both the High Court and the Court of
Appeal were dismissed before they made their plea to the Supreme Court. McGrath had been
committed for trial on 33 charges of inducing a boy under 16 to do an
indecent act, allegedly committed between February and June 1977 when the
complainant was a student at Marylands School, Christchurch. McGrath's lawyer, Nigel
Hampton, QC,said his client's appeal process was not finished. He said he had
recently lodged an appeal with the Court of Appeal requesting McGrath have a
separate trial for each of the dozen or more complainants. The other accused,
whose Supreme Court appeal was dismissed, is also a teacher at the Marylands
School. He faces a number of sex charges relating to young boys. His name was
suppressed until after any trial. No date has been set
for the two men's High Court trial. |