AUSTRALIA
9 News
A Maronite priest jailed for indecently assaulting a teenage boy has had his conviction quashed on appeal.
The Sydney clergyman, 41, was found guilty in 2016 of assaulting the then 15-year-old boy and sentenced to at least 12 months in jail.
His barrister, Phillip Boulton SC, told the Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday the trial judge misdirected the jury and there were problems with the reliability of the complainant and his evidence.
The trial heard that in 2005 the priest was a deacon at the tight-knit church and a close friend of the complainant’s family.
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