Priest guilty of child-sex crimes in New South Wales
On 1 June 2015 a Catholic priest was found guilty of 31 child sex offences committed against boys in the Hunter Region, north of Sydney, in the 1980s. The priest was remanded in custody. He will be sentenced on a later date.
According to the Newcastle Herald, this Guilty verdict was returned by a jury in the Sydney District Court jury after more than a week of deliberations.
The court heard evidence from four men who described how they were sexually abused by the priest at different locations in the Hunter region when they were children.
The jury found the priest guilty of two charges of sexual intercourse without consent against a child under 16, 10 charges of assault and committing an act of indecency against a child under 16, and 19 charges of inciting an indecent act.
A date has not yet been scheduled for the sentencing. For legal reasons, this priest's name cannot be published yet. The court would allow the name to become legally available at a later stage in the judicial process.