Prosecutors allege the former bishop of Broome hosted alcohol-fueled parties for young aboriginal men at Church-owned properties. Saunders has pleaded not guilty to all 26 charges.
The trial of an Australian bishop opened this week in the District Court of Western Australia in Perth, where the 76-year-old faces 26 charges of sexual offenses against three young aboriginal men.
Bishop Christopher Saunders led the remote Diocese of Broome in Australia’s northwest from 1996 until his resignation in 2021. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which range from indecent assault to sexual penetration without consent, reported the West Australian newspaper.
The incidents allegedly took place between 2008 and 2017, while he was bishop. Saunders has consistently maintained his innocence.
In his opening address, state prosecutor Adam Ebell alleged that Saunders hosted parties for young aboriginal men at Church-owned properties across the Kimberley region, using what he described as a “seemingly endless supply of alcohol and cigarettes” purchased with Church funds, according to Australian court reporting by the ABC and WAtoday.
The court heard that the first complainant was 16 when he met Saunders and that the bishop allegedly groomed him with gifts before abusing him at properties including the bishop’s residence in Broome, a hotel in Kununurra, and the Kalumburu Mission until the young man turned 19. The three complainants are now in their early 30s.
Former diocesan employees are expected to testify, as is Bishop Michael Morrissey of Geraldton, who served as apostolic administrator of Broome after Saunders’ resignation.
Saunders stepped aside from governance of the diocese in 2020 after police opened an investigation.
A Vatican-ordered inquiry under Vos Estis Lux Mundi — the first in Australia — produced a 200-page report that was leaked in 2023 and handed to police, leading to his arrest in February 2024.
Saunders was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Broome in 1976. He was born in Melbourne. In 1989, he became the diocesan administrator and was consecrated as the bishop of Broome in 1996.
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