Arabic version: محاكمة أسقف بروم السابق بتهم اعتداء جنسي

According to ABC News, former Bishop of Broome Christopher Alan Saunders has faced the first day of his trial in Perth’s District Court. Saunders, 76, is accused of offending against three males while he was bishop, a position that covered Western Australia’s Kimberley region.

Prosecutor Adam Ebell told the court Saunders allegedly had a sexual interest in young Aboriginal men and abused them at “alcohol-fuelled” parties over several years in the far north of Western Australia. The court heard the parties were held at Saunders’s Catholic Church-owned home in Broome, with a “shirts off” dress code and what the prosecutor described as a seemingly endless supply of alcohol and cigarettes.

Saunders is charged with 26 offences, including indecent assault and sexual penetration without consent. Mr Ebell alleged that Saunders used boxing and wrestling as a “subterfuge” for physical contact with youths. Most charges concern one alleged victim who was 16 or 17 when the alleged sexual conduct began, the court heard.

The prosecutor said the alleged victim felt shame and believed he could not say no to the bishop’s sexual advances. Mr Ebell told jurors the alleged victim felt there was a “power dynamic” between them. The court was also shown photographs of alleged victims and other young Aboriginal men that the prosecutor said Saunders had taken.

The court heard allegations involving two other victims, aged 24 and in their late teens. Saunders was Bishop of Broome for 25 years before retiring in 2021. The trial is listed for three weeks, with many witnesses expected to give evidence, including the Bishop of Geraldton. Saunders denies the charges and has long maintained his innocence.