Stuff
May 12 2004
Delay not enough to stop extradition hearing against clergy
NZPA
A Sydney judge
yesterday ruled the long delay in filing sex abuse charges against three
clergymen was not unjust enough to stop a hearing to extradite them to New
Zealand.
The allegations against one of the three, an 82-year-old St John of God
brother, date back to 1955 when he was at
Magistrate Hugh Dillon had been asked in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on
Monday by counsel for two of the clergymen, Paul Byrne, to rule that it was
"oppressive and unjust" under the Extradition Act to charge someone
so long after the alleged events.
Yesterday, Mr Dillon ruled the hearing should continue.
"I don't have any evidence of actual oppression or injustice that may
arise," he told the court.
He said he took into account the serious nature of the charges of the men and
the public interest in seeing the cases resolved.
All three accused are members of St John of God, a Catholic order that ran the
The other two accused are aged 68 and 56. They relocated to
Christchurch Detective Sergeant Earle Borrell, could be questioned by Mr Byrne, despite the Commonwealth
Director of Public Prosecutions not calling him.
Mr Byrne questioned him at length on statements taken from complainants and
witnesses. Mr Borrell said 39 people had made
complaints about the three men and two others, who are also facing charges in
He was asked why the defence in
Mr Borrell was also questioned about a report in
Mr Borrell said it was not a new twist. The
allegation was among those originally made in 2002 and included in charges laid
late last year. Those charges had been replaced early last month by a new batch
of charges.
Mr Byrne asked why Mr Borrell had not contacted the
newspaper to correct the story. He said the small part of the story where he
had been quoted was correct and that he had not raised the matter because that
might generate more publicity.
The hearing is expected to finish today.