AUSTRALIA
WA Today
August 6, 2014
Adam Cooper
Court reporter for The Age
Former priest David Rapson is to be freed from jail and has had convictions for sexually abusing eight boys at a Catholic boarding school quashed, in a ruling that has devastated men who gave evidence in court against him.
The Office of Public Prosecutions on Wednesday conceded the 13 charges Rapson faced in the County Court last year should not have been heard in the one trial because of differences in the offending that was alleged.
The Court of Appeal said the concession was proper and quashed Rapson’s convictions on five counts of rape and eight of indecent assault, that he be released from custody on bail and that he face a new trial in the County Court.
Rapson, 61, was last year jailed for a minimum 10 years after he was found guilty by a jury of the 13 charges related to the abuse of eight boys at the school between the mid 1970s and 1990.
The latest ruling was a major blow for the eight men who testified in Rapson’s trial, and who might now have to return to the witness stand to have their allegations tested again in court.
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