AUSTRALIA
Armidale Express
By VICTORIA NUGENT Sept. 4, 2013
An Armidale magistrate has upheld a gag on the identity of a defrocked priest charged with historic child sex offences.
Magistrate Karen Stafford reviewed the non-publication order in court today and decided to uphold it on the grounds that lifting the gag “would be an objectively magnified risk” to his personal safety.
The 59-year-old man was present in court as Magistrate Stafford reviewed an order put into place by Magistrate Richardson in November and a further application for a non-publication relating to charges laid since then.
The former priest faces a total of 139 charges and has not yet entered a plea.
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