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Allegations
of Abuse |
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A Sydney magistrate
said yesterday that he would hand down a decision in mid- February as to
whether three St John of God clergymen would be extradited to New Zealand to
face child abuse charges. The trio -- two
brothers and a priest -- face 64 charges of sexual abuse of students at
Christchurch's Marylands school, which was run by the St John of God order
between 1955 and its closure 30 years later. Magistrate Hugh Dillon
heard final submissions in Downing Centre Local Court yesterday from lawyers
for the three men and the Australian Commonwealth Director of Public
Prosecutions, which is seeking to extradite the trio, aged 82, 69 and 57, on
behalf of New Zealand. The men were arrested
just after Christmas last year, but their case has been bogged down by a
logjam in the Sydney courts and by complex legal arguments. Dillon said at
the beginning of the week he had hoped to give his decision this week, but it
became apparent yesterday that he would run out of time. Counsel for the two
brothers, Paul Byrne, said the intention of New Zealand police to have joint
trials against his clients and the long delay in bringing the charges were
prejudicial to them. For the Commonwealth,
Ian Bourke said matters of fairness and how the trials were to be held were
the domain of a trial judge, not a magistrate in extradition proceedings. |
