Bishop not guilty of molesting boys

By Tim Clarke
West Australian
February 15, 2016

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30828162/bishop-not-guilty-of-molesting-boys/

The Catholic Bishop to Australia's Defence Forces has been found not guilty of sexually molesting five boys while he as teaching at a Benedictine boarding school in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Max Leroy Davis had denied six charges of gross indecency relating to five different boys aged between 12 and 15 at the time they say they were all assaulted while pupils at St Benedict's College in New Norcia.

The five victims, who are all now in their 50s, alleged remarkably similar abuse while boarding at the school - and all say it was Mr Davis who abused them.

But after four hours deliberation following a week-long trial, the jury at Perth District acquitted him of all charges, after hearing Mr Davis categorically deny it had been him who had abused them.

The 70-year-old was at the time a Dorm Master, and dean of discipline at the school, which was run under the Benedictine order of monks who still reside in the town north of Perth.

The jury at Perth District Court was told the boys all gave evidence they were touched on the genitals by Mr Davis in their beds, in the school's infirmary, or in Mr Davis' quarters in the school.

But Mr Davis said he abhorred the through of child abuse, and suggested at least two other staff members - including a former rector, or headmaster, of the school Brother Justin Bruce could have been the perpetrator

Mr Davis Said it was him who had told Catholic authorities about Brother Justin, who was replaced as head of the school on the very same day.

And he also said another staff member, referred to as Brother Benedict, was also known for taking photographs of pupils' genitalia.

Both of those staff members are now dead.

Mr Davis , who now lives in the ACT, was stood down as the head of the Australian Defence Force's Catholic diocese when he was first charged with an offence against one of the boys in 2014.