AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites
By a Broken Rites researcher (article posted 22 January 2015)
A Catholic priest, Father Theodore Arrivoli (now aged 92), who has ministered in many parishes around the Sydney region during the past 60 years, was charged in court on 15 January 2015 regarding alleged sexual assaults of two children near Sydney in the 1970s. The alleged offences include buggery.
This court hearing was a “first mention” procedure, with a magistrate in the Penrith Local Court, north-west of Sydney. This was a brief administrative process for the charges to be officially filed in court. Father Arrivoli has not yet been required to indicate how he will plead in answer to the charges.
The Arrivoli case will come up again in the Penrith court in March 2015 for a further mention to consider the subsequent steps in the judicial process. The main proceedings would be held on a later date.
In March 2014, police investigators from Hawkesbury Local Area Command, acting on information received about alleged sexual assault matters involving children, commenced investigations.
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