|
|
Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
|
|
|
|
A High Court jury in
Christchurch has retired in the trial of Bernard Kevin McGrath (58), who
denies 44 charges of sodomy and indecency at Marylands, a residential school
on the outskirts of Christchurch. The jury was last night
sent to a hotel after deliberating for about nine hours after being asked to
consider their verdicts on the first day of the fourth week of the trial. When Justice Chisholm
summed up to the jury yesterday, he asked them to "judge McGrath's
innocence or guilt with your head and not your heart", and to put aside
prejudice and sympathy. The court was told that
McGrath had been jailed in 1993 for sexually abusing boys at Marylands during
his time as a dorm master and teacher with the St John of God Order. McGrath
later admitted more offending while in jail, a process known as a custody
clearance. The jury was also told
it was accepted that other Catholic brothers, whose names are suppressed, had
also molested boys there. The question was not whether McGrath was a child
molester, but how many and how seriously he offended. |
