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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Police and Crown prosecutors
will decide in the next few days whether to appeal against an Australian
court decision to block the extradition of two Catholic clergymen who face
child sex charges in New Zealand. Two former St John of
God brothers face more than 30 charges of abusing boys at the Marylands
Special School in Christchurch during the 1970's and 1980s. Their extradition to
New Zealand was ordered by a Local Court magistrate in Sydney last year, but
the Federal Court was asked to review that decision. A Federal Court judge
in Sydney ruled on Friday that the differences in the New Zealand and
Australian legal systems and the length of time since the alleged crimes,
would make it difficult for the men to receive a fair trial. Justice Rodney Madgwick
ruled the men would not get a fair trial because the allegations are more
than 20-years-old and the legal systems of the two countries differ on how to
deal with historical cases. In Australia, the
defendants would be guaranteed that a trial judge would strongly warn the
jury about the difficulty of proving old allegations. In New Zealand there is
no such guarantee and any warning is at the judge's discretion.
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