Priest, 78, and Two Male Teachers Charged with Multiple Sexual Abuse Offences against Four Girls As Young As Eight in a Remote School

Daily Mail
May 10, 2017

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4490538/Priest-teachers-face-historic-child-sex-abuse-charges.html

A 78-year-old priest and two other male teachers who worked at WA's Wandering Mission school are facing historic child sex abuse charges.

The trio, who worked at the West Australian Catholic school for indigenous children in the 1960s, were arrested on multiple child abuse charges.

The day school with a dormitory for Aboriginal girls was established in 1944 and was one-and-a-half hours south east of Perth, before being closed in 1979.

A 78-year-old priest and two other male teachers who worked at WA's Wandering Mission school are facing historic child sex abuse charges, stemming from the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Offences (stock image)

The 78-year-old priest was arrested in Melbourne and has been charged with rape and 12 other offences.

It is alleged between 1965 and 1969 the priest sexually abused four girls who were aged between eight and 15 years at the time of the first offence.

He has been charged with six counts of indecent dealing of a girl under 13 years of age, six counts of unlawful and indecent assault on a female and one count of rape.

He is due to appear before the Perth Magistrates Court via video link on 22 June 2017.

An 83-year-old man from the Perth suburb of Bibra Lake, who worked as a teacher at the mission, has been charged with 14 offences.

The day school with a dormitory for Aboriginal girls was established in 1944 and closed in 1979. Pictured is Mission Road in Wandering close to where the school was located

These include five counts of indecently dealing with a girl under 17 years by a teacher, three counts of unlawful indecent dealing with a girl under 13 years, two counts of sexual assault, one count of carnal knowledge of a girl under 17 years by a teacher, one count of attempted carnal knowledge of a girl under 13 years, on count of rape and one count of indecently dealing with a child under 13 years.

He is due to appear before the Perth Magistrates Court on 31 May 2017.

The trio are due to face the Perth Magistrates Court (pictured) in separate appearances in the next month. The 78-year-old priest will appear via video link from Melbourne

An 82-year-old man from the Perth suburb of Shelley is facing seven charges, with allegations that between 1960 and 1963 the male teacher sexually abused a girl who was 10 years old at the time of the first offence.

He was charged with three counts of unlawful and indecent assault on a female and four counts of indecent dealings with a child under 13 years.

He is due to appear before the Perth Magistrates Court on 29 June 2017.

WA Police said in a statement on Wednesday that the charges follow investigations which stem from the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Offences.