Arabic version: قادة كيمبرلي يحثون الناجين على التحدث بعد سجن أسقف

According to ABC News, Kimberley community leaders hope the imprisonment of former Broome bishop Christopher Alan Saunders will encourage more survivors of sexual abuse to come forward. Saunders was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting two young men.

Aboriginal community leader Albert Wiggan called Saunders an “evil predator” and said the sentence was like “cutting off the head of a snake”. Wiggan, who had known Saunders since childhood, said the former cleric had won the trust of families in remote Aboriginal communities. Saunders arrived in the Broome Diocese in 1975 and remained there for five decades.

Wiggan said the community needed to be more vigilant in exposing abusive behaviour and hoped the court outcome would give survivors strength to tell their stories. He said the sentence set a precedent and offered victims hope of obtaining justice.

Current Broome Bishop Tim Norton said the Catholic Church had been too slow to respond and described its abuse of power in the Kimberley as “inexcusable”. He said the hurt and pain caused had lasted too long. The church has not defrocked Saunders, who retains honorary titles and benefits under a retirement package negotiated in 2021.

Human rights advocate Dr Hannah McGlade said the sentence was a positive outcome but that the church still needed to accept responsibility for the harm caused. She said stigma could make it particularly unsafe for Aboriginal men to discuss sexual abuse. Bishop Norton said the church would hold healing and reconciliation sessions in Broome for the whole community.