AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser
Meagan Dillon, Court Reporter, Sunday Mail (SA)
August 19, 2017
A FORMER South Australian church pastor has been found guilty of sexually exploiting two young sisters more than 40 years ago — crimes that were examined by the Royal Commission into Institutional Sexual Abuse.
District Court Judge Gordon Barrett this month found ex-Salvation Army officer Christian Siebert guilty of two counts of the persistent sexual exploitation of two girls — then aged four and six — between 1976 and 1978.
Both victims first made statements to Victoria Police in 2004, and went on to give evidence at the royal commission two years ago.
The District Court heard a Salvation Army couple were posted to an SA country town and moved there with their two daughters and son in 1976.
Siebert, who would later become a pastor, was aged 20 at the time and was an active member of the church congregation where he spent a lot of time with the siblings, who lived next to the church.
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