Thursday, September 17, 2009

Former Priest Pleads Guilty, Could get 18 Months for Touching Elyria Teen

Original article
09/16/09

Brad Dicken

ELYRIA — A former local Catholic priest pleaded guilty Monday to a sex charge alleging he had sexual contact with a teenage boy 12 years ago.

Patrick O’Connor, 51, pleaded guilty to a single count of corruption of a minor as part of a plea agreement that could end up with him serving 18 months in prison. O’Connor had originally been charged with sexually battery, a crime that could have sent him to prison for five years.

Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Mark Betleski, who will sentence O’Connor later this year, said the plea agreement didn’t contain a specified sentence.

Instead, prosecutors and O’Connor’s attorneys will argue whether he should be incarcerated.

The plea deal also calls for O’Connor to register as a sex offender every six months for the next 25 years.

O’Connor was indicted late last month after an investigation of more than a year into allegations that he had touched the boy — now in his late 20s — during the summer of 1997.

The victim came forward to the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland in June 2008, and the allegations were turned over to Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will.

O’Connor was a priest at St. Jude Church in Elyria in 1997 and also once served as Elyria police chaplain.

The victim in the 1997 case wasn’t a parishioner, but rather a boy from the neighborhood whom O’Connor knew, according to prosecutors.

O’Connor resigned from the priesthood after the allegations surfaced last year. He had been working as chaplain to the Sisters of the Most Holy Trinity and Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine, both in Euclid, jobs that were deliberately designed to keep him away from children.

O’Connor had been on administrative leave from the church from 2003 through 2007 while the Diocese investigated earlier sex abuse allegations from when he was a priest at St. Joseph Church in Cuyahoga Falls during the 1980s.

O’Connor resigned as Elyria police chaplain when those allegations came to light, but he was later cleared of wrongdoing by a diocese review board.

He remains free on bond.

Narco-tape Shows Priests, nun Admitting to Crime

Original article
09/15/09
VR Jayaraj | Kochi


The tapes of the narco-analyses in the sensational Sr Abhaya murder case of Kerala came out on Monday, showing the accused, two priests and a nun of the powerful Knanaya Catholic Church, admitting to their crime of murdering the 21-year-old nun.

The recordings contained in an 80-minute CD also showed that the two priests, Fr Thomas M Kottoor (58) and Fr Jose Puthrukayil (56), and nun Sr Seffy (43) had a relationship between them. This was perhaps for the first time the recordings of narco-analsyes in a murder case coming out in the open.

The CD of the narco-analyses came out in the media after the CBI probing the case handed it over to the defendants along with certain other documents at the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Ernakulam on Monday noon. Fr Kottoor, Fr Puthrukayil and Sr Seffy, the first, second and third accused respectively, were subjected to the analyses at the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory in November, 2007.

The Kottayam Archdiocese of the Knanaya Catholic Church objected to the telecast of the tapes by news channels saying this was an act of gross violation of human rights while the CJM Court reportedly instructed several television channels not to continue with the telecast as the case was still in the court.

The recordings indeed carried signs of editing as the defendants had alleged, but legal experts said that the revelations the accused had made during the procedure were perfectly legible and enough for a probe agency to draw conclusions. The CBI case was that the three accused had struck Sr Abhaya on the back of her head with a blunt object and had pushed her in the well of the St Pius X Convent, Kottayam, after she had seen them in immoral postures. Sr Abhaya’s body was found in the well of the convent on the morning of May 27, 1992.

The narco-tape clearly shows Fr Kottoor, Fr Puthrukayil and Sr Seffi, under the effect of the truth serum, giving legible statements about how they had killed Sr Abhaya and the circumstances in which they had done this.

All the three accused are seen admitting that there was a relationship between them, and Sr Seffi clearly says that she was in love with both the priests while Fr Puthrukayil admits to having touched the nun’s body.

The statements of both Fr Puthrukayil and Sr Seffi are corroborative as they say that they had struck Sr Abhaya on the back of her neck with (the back of) an axe. “It was an axe (kodali) or a hammer (chuttika),” says Fr Puthrukayil, dazed under the effect of the truth serum while Sr Seffi says it was indeed an axe.

To a question, Sr Seffi can be seen telling the expert, Dr S Malini, then assistant director of the lab (and an interpreter), that blood had come out on the neck of the nun after they struck her. On the tape, Sr Seffi is also seen admitting that it was she who struck Sr Abhaya with the axe. The subjects also can be seen admitting that they had thrown Sr Abhaya in the well after she was (thought to be) dead. The priest is seen adding that he had escaped from the convent after the incident by jumping over the compound wall.

The tape also shows Sr Seffi telling the examiner very clearly that she had opened the door of the kitchen in the back of the convent for the two priests, with whom she was in love all the while, on the night of the incident. Fr Puthrukayil also can be seen admitting that he was in love with Sr Seffi, and that this love had come “from within my heart”.

The CD of the narco-analyses was still a subject of controversy as it had been proved that the recordings contained extensive editing. The defendants’ counsel had argued that this made the tapes untrustworthy but the CBI and the lab were of the stand that only unnecessary parts of the procedure had been edited out. After the tapes were out in the media, legal experts said that the genuineness of the recordings need not be doubted though editing had indeed been done.

The CBI had earlier submitted in the court that a Supreme Court judge, a devout member of the same church to which the murdered nun and the accused belonged, had watched the tapes on May 24, 2008 when he was the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, according to Dr Malini. She had also said that the judge had praised her for the work. The SC justice had not so far denied this.

Concerns Over Church Child Abuse Guidelines

Original article
09/16/09

GRAVE CONCERN was expressed yesterday about a continuing lack of adherence by Irish Catholic bishops to implementation of the Church’s own child protection guidelines.

Maeve Lewis, executive director of One in Four, which helps people who suffered abuse as children, told The Irish Times that as recently as Monday last the agency had been contacted by three people on the matter.

Each had complained about clerical abuse to the bishops in their three separate dioceses and in no case had the bishop concerned acted in accordance with church guidelines, she said. In one case the allegation was brought to the bishop’s attention three months ago, since when nothing had been done. In another case, the accused priest still remained as chairman of the local primary school board, while in the third case the accused priest had “gone abroad”.

Church child protection guidelines state that a bishop must inform civil authorities immediately an allegation is made. The accused priest is to be stood aside from ministry and contact with children, pending the outcome of church and State investigations.

Ms Lewis said there were only two Catholic dioceses of the 26 on the island of Ireland where she was confident that church child protection measures were being fully implemented. These were Dublin and Killaloe.

In each, “child protection came from the heart of the bishop”. She was referring to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in Dublin and Bishop Willie Walsh in Killaloe.

“On a day-to-day basis it is difficult to make bishops listen” regarding child abuse, she said. This had heightened her concern for child protection regarding primary schools, the great majority of which had the bishops as trustees.

“Following the [Louise] O’Keeffe case, no one is responsible for the protection of children in those schools,” she said.

It had further unnerved her to learn that the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children, has no authority over the implementation of such measures in church-run schools.

Ms Lewis was speaking at the launch of One in Four’s 2008 annual report in Dublin yesterday.

Since the Ryan report was published last May, the agency had been contacted by 700 people seeking help, she said. This was more than in all of 2008.

She was “very disappointed that Minister Barry Andrews has been unavailable to meet to discuss once-off emergency funding. Apologies to survivors without action are meaningless.”

In 2008 the agency accommodated 75 new psychotherapy clients and 426 advocacy clients, with 22 sex offenders taking part in treatment programmes at the agency. Of the abused it had helped in 2008, 21 per cent had experienced clerical abuse.

Accused nun Seeks Probe Into Leakage of Narco CDs

09/18/09
Original article
STAFF WRITER
19:39 HRS IST

Kochi, Sept 15 (PTI) Sister Sephy, an accused in the Abhaya murder case, today filed a petition in a local court seeking a probe into the alleged leakage of CDs of the narco tests conducted on her.

In her petition before the Chief Judicial Magistrate court, she said the contents of the narco CDs of two other accused -- Thomas Kottoor and Jose Puthrikayil -- were also leaked and telecast by several Malayalam television channels.

The court later restrained the media from publishing and telecasting the contents of CDS.

Sephy also wanted a ban in the media on any further discussions regarding the contents of the CDs.

Chief Judicial Magistrate K A Baby,sought a reply from CBI, which investigated the Abhaya case, and posted the petition to September 17.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Abused at 3, Woman Gets RC Settlement

Original article
Priest's sex assaults lasted 3 years

Dalson Chen, The Windsor Star

Published: Saturday, September 12, 2009

The youngest victim of pedophile priest Rev. Charles Sylvestre has reached a settlement with the Catholic church.

But Cecilia Annette McLauchlin said doing so was a difficult and painful process, and the London diocese should be ashamed for drawing it out.

"They simply are playing the game of 'survivor.' They push you to the wall, just hoping -- and, I am sure, praying -- that you will crack," she said at a news conference in London on Friday.


Now a 32-year-old Chatham resident, McLauchlin said the abuse began in 1980 when she was three, and it continued until her family moved away from Sylvestre's parish in 1983.

McLauchlin's lawyer, Rob Talach of the law firm Ledroit Beckett, said Sylvestre carried out "perverse sexual acts" on McLauchlin during those pre-school years. Talach said Sylvestre's abuse led to McLauchlin requiring a gynecological examination at the age of five.

McLauchlin said the abuse has affected her life well into adulthood. "I have been so scared, ashamed and confused for so many years, and it is still not over."


McLauchlin said that in the course of her lawsuit, the London diocese required her to undergo a psychiatric examination in the fall of last year, conducted by a medical examiner hired by the diocese.

McLauchlin said she endured questioning in a psychiatric hospital. "Most of those questions were into the acts of sexual abuse. He wanted more description. For 20 minutes, I literally had to describe private areas of Father Charlie (Sylvestre)."

McLauchlin said she believes the London diocese set up the examination to wear her down.


She believes the tactic of the diocese is to bring the unsettled victims to their breaking points, so that they will accept any offer the diocese makes. "They tried to crack me, but they didn't."

Talach noted that the London diocese did not agree to settle with McLauchlin until the last working day before the trial was scheduled to begin.

McLauchlin filed her lawsuit in the fall of 2006.

"Why that had to be dragged out like that ... is her question," Talach said.


"Three years of litigation and then folding on the eve of the courthouse is very expensive for the parties, and very difficult for the victims."

Talach would not disclose the sum of the settlement, stating that it was the request of his client that there be no comment about the amount.

"Cecilia wants the focus to be on the facts and not the figures," Talach said.

McLauchlin said she tried to settle with the diocese last year for an amount "substantially lower" than the eventual settlement, but the diocese ignored her offer.

Mark Adkinson, a spokesman for the London diocese, said it's the policy of the diocese not to comment on the financial details of a settlement.

On McLauchlin's accusation that the diocese was intentionally drawing out the process, Adkinson said: "We handle each case individually. There are circumstances that make some cases take longer to settle than others. There are various issues that go into that." He cited the time it takes to obtain legal advice and calendar conflicts.

2 Pueblo men Settle Suits Alleging Abuse by Priest

Original article
Associated Press - September 13, 2009 4:14 PM ET

PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) - Two Pueblo men who filed lawsuits alleging they were sexually abused by a former priest have reached settlements with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pueblo.

Monsignor Mark Plewka of the diocese confirmed the settlements with a 48-year-old man and his nephew, described as in his 30s.

The older man alleged Andrew Burke abused him from 1970-78. The lawsuits accused Burke of establishing a similar relationship with the man's nephew.

The older man had sought $1.8 million from the diocese and the release of Burke's personnel file. Terms of the settlements weren't disclosed, but they did not include release of Burke's file.

Burke left the priesthood in 1973. He committed suicide in September 2005 at age 62.

Information from: The Pueblo Chieftain, http://www.chieftain.com

Abuse Happened for Three Years as a Preschooler

By RANDY RICHMOND
Original article
Catholic diocese has settled with woman molested by a priest as a child

For 29 years, Cecilia McLauchlin, heavy with shame, tried to run from the past.

Today, she plans to go for a jog, much lighter than ever, and in a different direction.

"I am here to say that for 29 years I have been running away from the abuse and the pain, but (now) I am running toward the rest of my life."

The Blenheim woman spoke publicly for the first time yesterday about the three years of sexual abuse she suffered as a pre-schooler from Rev. Charles Sylvestre, her lifelong pain, and the fight for justice from the Roman Catholic Diocese of London.

She rebuked the diocese for adding to her sorrows.

The diocese dragged on the case for three years, refused one offer to settle, forced her to take "humiliating" medical exams, then settled days before going to trial, McLauchlin said yesterday at a news conference yesterday at the London law office of Ledroit Beckett.


"They push you to to the wall, just hoping, and I am sure praying, that you will 'crack' " she said.


"I hope the London diocese will settle with the rest of their victims and let them go on with their lives, or try."


Mark Adkinson, director of communications for the London diocese, responded to those criticisms yesterday by saying church officials are working as quickly on the dozens of lawsuits filed by Sylvestre's and other victims.


"We are doing the best we can," he said in an interview.


McLauchlin's deal is one of about 50 reached between the church and Sylvestre's victims, with more than a dozen outstanding.


"We are sorry for all of the hurt she and others have experienced as a result of the actions of Charles Sylvestre," Adkinson added in a written statement.


McLauchlin, now 32, is the youngest sexual abuse victim of Sylvestre's to come forward and sue the diocese.



The retired Roman Catholic priest died in 2007, three months into a three-year prison sentence for 47 counts of indecent assault on girls from parishes in London, Windsor, Sarnia, Chatham and Pain Court, a small village near Chatham.


McLauchlin grew up in Pain Court but was not part of the criminal proceedings. She launched her lawsuit in 2006, after seeing a newspaper story about Sylvestre.


Sylvestre began abusing her in 1980 or 1981, when she was three or four, soon after he began his last parish assignment at the Immaculate Conception Church in Pain Court, she said.

McLauchlin would not reveal details of the abuse yesterday, but she alluded to the physical and emotional pain the abuse brought.


"I really don't know how many three-, four-, five-, six-year-olds can't wear underwear for most of their childhood because they are raw."


According to the lawsuit's statement of claim, Sylvestre fondled her breasts, penetrated her vagina with his fingers, had intercourse with her and made her perform sex acts on him.


All the while Sylvestre abused the pre-schooler, he counselled her on religious matters, became close with her family and posed for photographs with her at a church dance and at her first communion.


"Father Charlie was this man whom I loved, whom I thought was the end all and be all. To have him pick me up and hold me over everyone else made me feel so special," McLauchlin said.


She never told her devout Catholic parents about the abuse until she was an adult.

"I was ashamed. I thought it was my fault and that continues to be a struggle in my life.
"

McLauchlin would not reveal the terms of her settlement.

"Cecilia's case is a double tragedy," her lawyer Rob Talach said. First, she was abused by her trusted parish priest, he said. Second, the abuse happened decades after other girls complained to church officials and police about Sylvestre.

"The abuse in this case never should have occurred," Talach said.

Whatever the Priests may Have Said -- Ireland was a Country Seething With sex

Original article
By Diarmaid Ferriter

Saturday September 12 2009

Oliver J Flanagan had clearly not heard of the bikini girl on the Galway beach when he made his infamous assertion in 1966 that "Sex never came to Ireland until TeilifĂ­s Eireann went on the air".

What would the Fine Gael TD have made of the students at the national seminary in Maynooth who laughed rather than fulminated when they were told the story about a priest who had noticed a young woman from his parish sprawled on a beach wearing a very brief bikini?

The priest sent the woman a note, asking her to wear a one-piece bathing suit. She returned a quick reply: "Which piece do you want me to take off?" Apocryphal? Perhaps. But the story does contains an essential element of truth which was well-articulated by Francis Hackett in January 1945. Hackett, an Irish-born literary critic in the United States, wrote an article on Ireland for The American Mercury magazine.


He was initially concerned with providing a critique of Irish neutrality and living standards, but he also focused much of his ire on the Irish denial of sex in the 1920s and 1930s, of which he had direct experience when he lived for eight years in Wicklow.

He observed: "About the problems of sex, they pretend to be doves when in fact they are ostriches.

"A Jesuit father took it upon himself to decide where, and for how long, the young were to dance. The bishops came out against late parties, mixed bathing, night rides, communism, lipstick and legs. The list of censored books previous to the war already exceeded 1,000." Hackett wove his personal experience into his assessments; he was no detached observer, but someone who had an insight into the underbelly of sexual activity and crime.

"As for the sexual morbidity, I can testify from my own observation as a juror in Wicklow, where I lived from 1929 to 1937, that de Valera closes his eyes to facts. During quarter sessions, the panel had these cases to try: a village girl accused of throwing her newborn baby out of a railway carriage; a seller of soda water charged with homosexuality on 20 counts, pleading guilty; a village elder accused of criminal assault on two children under 12, pleading guilty; a romping athletic youth, accused of raping a girl under 16, found guilty.

"In Clare, at the same time, the judge had so many sex cases, in de Valera's own stronghold, that he called it the Dirty Assize. Rape, infanticide, homosexuality, even incest, crop up." Hackett was not exaggerating; these crimes were indeed cropping up all over the country and were on the increase in the 1920s. As Hackett recognised, it was delusional to maintain that the Irish were exceptionally chaste or sexually pure, but such an insistence proved remarkably durable.

As late as 1965, the Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, insisted: "There is probably a saner attitude to sex in this country than almost anywhere else," words that the Ferns Report, Ryan Report and the upcoming report of sexual abuse in the Dublin diocese make a complete mockery of.

In researching the history of Irish sexuality, the historian is frequently confronted with the rhetoric of sin and "moral panic". The language associated with sex was overwhelmingly negative and judgmental. Condemnations and warnings abounded and there were deemed to be sexual traps and temptations around every corner.

In Brian Moore's novel Fergus (1971), Fr Kinneally, who taught Fergus English when he was a student, is asked by Fergus many years later if it was true that he had once cut all the corset and brassiere advertisements out of magazines on the school dentist's waiting room table. "There were young boys looking at those suggestive drawings," Fr Kinneally said. "I thought it wise. Remember, an occasion of sin is an occasion of sin, even if it is not intended to be."

The psychological effect of many years of this kind of language and instruction took its toll on some people, a notable example being the novelist Edna O'Brien, who told a journalist in 1968: "I don't think I have any pleasure in any part of my body, because my first and initial bad thoughts were blackened by the fear of sin and therefore I think of my body as a vehicle for sin, a sort of tabernacle of sin."

Her words of over 40 years ago will still resonate with a generation encouraged to equate sexual activity with sin, but as Francis Hackett recognised, there is also ample evidence that the Irish did not always obey their pious masters. Continued condemnation of sexual excess or deviance suggested there was a significant gulf between the rhetoric of Irish chastity and the reality.

There were a whole host of largely hidden Irelands that came to light during court proceedings, or as a result of private government inquiries into such issues as venereal diseases and the age of consent in the 1920s and 1930s.

With regard to many of those who emigrated in the 1950s, it was noted that much of their obedience at home had been largely superficial: in 1953, Fr Tom Fitzgerald, a native of Tipperary working as a chaplain in the east end of London, suggested that the female Irish emigrants he encountered had only been restrained at home "by outward conventions, not by faith, not by anything deep within herself".

Despite this, there was a continued articulation of the myth that "anything which tends to keep the Irish together reduces the risk of moral lapse", revealing a striking double standard; the belief that there were no such "lapses" at home in Ireland. In truth, the Irish solution was to hide and deny those who had "lapsed". And it was nearly always women who paid the price; there was an abundance of "fallen" Irish women, but no "fallen men".

By the 1960s there was a growing resentment and anger. This sense of defiance was captured in Michael Farrell's book Thy Tears Might Cease (1963), when the character Martin Reilly, having been punished and humiliated by priests about his private feelings, decides to resist them, "and think what thoughts he chose in the solitude of his own heart".

Those policing Irish personal lives in the 20th Century were not necessarily unique in their preoccupation with sexual morality. What happened in Ireland after the creation of the Free State reflected broader European and North American panic about the supposed erosion of moral standards in the aftermath of the First World War (and in Ireland's case, in the aftermath of the War of Independence and Civil War).

Irish measures against film, literature, divorce and birth control were not unusual. Nonetheless, in Ireland, it was clear that moral concerns were more prevalent in influencing prohibitions on birth control than a preoccupation with demographic patterns.

What was unique to Ireland was the reluctance to marry and the redirection of a frustrated sexuality into other areas, including residential institutions, and the recent report of the commission to inquire into child abuse has provided a corrective to the atmosphere of secrecy and shame that surrounded these experiences for so many years. The irony of all the focus on sexual morality in Ireland is that it was being conducted in a country where, in terms of official statistics, there was very little sexual activity. In 1926, 72pc of Irish men between 25 and 43 were unmarried, as were 53pc of women of that age.

These were trends that did not alter significantly until the 1950s, meaning that Ireland had the highest rates of postponed marriage and permanent celibacy of any western country that kept such records.

Clearly, the legacy of the famine, including a reluctance to subdivide land and a high premium being placed on the virtues of celibacy, had lingered.

In seeking to maintain mythical higher "moral standards" politicians continually asked for guidance from the Church.

Indeed, given what is now known about sexual abuse by clerics, it is ironic that the Church was continually being looked to for advice on legislation that was supposed to protect Irish citizens from sexual immorality. There is little doubt there were many Irish politicians during the 20th Century who saw themselves as Catholics first and legislators second, which influenced their stance on issues of sexual morality.

For much of the century, the contention that public debate on sexual morality was inappropriate stood alongside public sermonising and a preoccupation with what was seen, not what was suffered. The challenge that various authorities set themselves was to keep uncomfortable truths behind closed doors.

But towards the end of the 20th Century, as we have so painfully seen, it became more difficult and unacceptable to contain debate about sexual issues long hidden and abuses long suffered in what amounted to an overdue exposure of the myth of exceptional Irish sexual purity.

- Diarmaid Ferriter

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

I'm Guilty Admits Extradited Catholic Priest Charles Barnett,

09/08/09
Original link

A FORMER South Australian priest has pleaded guilty to child sex charges after being extradited from Indonesia.

Charles Barnett, 68, was arrested in February following a request from Australian authorities, and the South Jakarta District Court approved his extradition in April.

Today, in the Adelaide Magistrates Court, Barnett admitted to three counts of indecent assault against a person between 1977 and 1982 at Crystal Brook and Port Pirie.

He pleaded not guilty to six other charges of unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assault at Port Pirie, Crystal Brook, Whyalla and Black Forest between 1981 and 1994.

Magistrate Alfio Grasso remanded him in custody to next appear in court in October.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Ninth man Charged Over St Stanislaus sex Assualt Claims

Original article
06/23/09

A NINTH man has been charged over historic sexual assault claims at a prestigious boarding school for boys in central western NSW.

Detectives have been investigating claims of child sexual assault dating back to 1960 at St Stanislaus Catholic College at Bathurst for almost 12 months.

A 79-year-old man was arrested at a Marsfield address in Sydney's north on Tuesday, police said.

"The man was taken to Ryde police station and charged with five counts of indecent assault on (a) male,'' police said in a statement.

"Those charges relate to the alleged indecent assault of three students between 1966 and 1978.''

He was granted bail and is to face Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on June 25.

Investigations have led to charges against staff including the school's former principal, vice-principal and chaplain.

Police are yet to reveal if the man was teacher at the school at the time of the alleged offences.

The latest arrest came as the case of one of the other eight accused was mentioned in a Sydney court on Tuesday.

Kevin Phillips, 58, was a member of the Vincentian community at St Stanislaus for a few months in 1990. He was also a part-time teacher and sports coach.

He has been charged with attempting homosexual intercourse by a teacher on a student, committing a gross act of indecency and supplying a prohibited drug.

Phillips, who now lives in Mackay in Queensland, was excused from appearing when his matter was mentioned in Downing Centre Local Court.

It was adjourned until September 8 so lawyers can analyse a computer hard drive seized during his arrest in May.

Strike Force Belle is investigating allegations of sexual assault on students at St Stanislaus and All Saints College, also in Bathurst, between 1960 and 1993.

Paedophilia Rampant at Bathurst Schools, Court Told

Original article
09/01/09

THE evidence against former NSW priests accused of historical sexual assaults painted "a picture of rampant paedophilia" in Bathurst schools, a court heard today as one fights for his liberty.

A former Father at St Stanislaus College, Brian Joseph Spillane has been charged with a fourth round of offences relating to alleged sexual assaults at the prestigious school.

The charges relate to alleged sexual assaults on students at the school more than 20 years ago.

A number of the men charged were members of the Vincentian Order on the staff at the college in the 1970s and 1980s.

Spillane is now accused of a total of 146 charges of indecency and sexual abuse against 27 victims - three of whom were girls.

Crown Prosecutor Beth Walker today asked a Downing Centre Local Court to refuse bail on the new charges and revoke bail granted on the old ones.

"In my submission, the brief of evidence presents a picture of rampant paedophilia," she said, citing a string of corroborating witness statements.

Spillane's barrister Philip Boulten SC is expected to mount a heavy case for his client to remain on bail this afternoon.

The hearing continues before Magistrate Jane Culver.

Students 'Hypnotised for sex' at St Stanislaus

Original article
LISA DAVIES

September 02, 2009 12:01am

STUDENTS at prestigious Catholic boys St Stanislaus College school were hypnotised into having sex with teachers, a court heard yesterday.

One of those teachers, former St Stanislaus College chaplain Brian Spillane, yesterday faced a fight for his freedom as additional charges were laid, bringing the total to 146.

The court heard how a former teacher had handed police "typed and signed admissions" from a St Stanislaus staffer that he had in fact hypnotised boys for the purposes of having sex with them in 1967.

The Crown said evidence would corroborate the claims from some of Spillane's victims that they were hypnotised by him.

Spillane, one of nine former teachers charged, is accused of indecent and sexual assaults at the school between 1971 and 1990 against 27 victims - three of whom were girls in the parish.

Crown Prosecutor Beth Walker yesterday asked the Downing Centre Local Court to refuse bail on the new charges and revoke bail granted on the existing ones.

"In my submission, the brief of evidence presents a picture of rampant paedophilia," she said.

Spillane, 66, has yet to enter any pleas to the charges.

In new evidence, Magistrate Jane Culver was told of an informant, "Witness A", who had told police of seeing Spillane involved in sex acts with "various students" during prayer sessions.

Witness A has also told of seeing Spillane engaging in sexual activity with students in a shower block.

Prosecutor Ms Walker rejected any suggestion the informant had "an axe to grind".

She argued the case was an extremely strong one and said there was significant corroborative evidence.

Magistrate Culver said while recent material and the full brief did in fact paint an alarming picture, Spillane "doesn't appear to have engaged in any recent paedophilia activity" since the last allegation of 1989.

She continued bail and ordered Spillane's wife to provide another $10,000 surety.