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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Former Marylands
brother Bernard Kevin McGrath has been admitted to hospital and his trial on
sex abuse charges in the High Court at Christchurch has been adjourned to
Monday. Justice Chisholm told
the jury of 58-year-old McGrath's illness when it assembled for the ninth day
of the trial today. "It is not
possible to continue the trial in his absence so I regret that you have come
in this morning to hear this," he said. Seven indecency charges
have been dropped against the former brother at Christchurch's Marylands
School. Crown prosecutor Chris
Lange said the prosecution would abandon seven of the charges, after the
evidence of the 16 complainants had been completed. The complainants'
evidence had failed to support those charges and in one case the complainant
did not give evidence. McGrath was originally
charged with 54 offences including touching, oral sex, inducing indecent
acts, and sodomising boys at the school when he was a teacher and dormitory
master there in the 1970s. When the trial began on
February 20 he pleaded guilty to one charge. McGrath now faces the
remaining 46 charges to which he has pleaded not guilty. |
