AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites
By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 13 May 2015)
Christian Brother William Peter Standen (known as Brother “David” Standen), who has taught at Catholic schools in Sydney and regional New South Wales, appeared in court on 13 May 2015 to answer 32 charges of indecent assault, allegedly committed against 18 schoolboys. Standen pleaded Guilty to 11 charges and Not Guilty to 15 charges, while the remaining six charges were withdrawn.
Standen submitted his pleas to a magistrate in the Goulburn Local Court in south-western New South Wales. The charges had been laid by detectives at Goulburn, where one of Brother Standen’s former schools (St Patrick’s College) was located. Police alleged that the offences were committed against boys at this school between 1978 and 1981.
All of Standen’s pleas, including the Guilty and Not Guilty ones, will be referred now to the Sydney District Court, where the Standen case is scheduled to have a procedural mention on 5 June 2015. Those charges for which Standen has pleaded Not Guilty would necessitate a trial and therefore the case would be put on the District Court’s waiting list for when a time-slot becomes available on the District Court’s schedule.
After the District Court trial is completed, Standen would be sentenced by the District Court for any charges on which he will have been found guilty, including those on which he has already entered a Guilty plea.
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