(AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - ABC [Sydney, Australia]
July 22, 2026
By David Weber
[PHOTO: Christopher Saunders is on trial in the District Court accused of offending against three males. (ABC News: David Weber)]
In short:
The lawyer for former Catholic bishop Christopher Alan Saunders, told the second day of his sex abuse trial that he denied the charges against him.
In his opening address to the court, Tony Hager warned the jury not to be affected by possible prejudice against the Catholic church and said witnesses may have motivation to lie or exaggerate.
What’s next?
The trial is set down for three weeks, during which many witnesses are expected to give evidence.
The lawyer for a former Catholic bishop who allegedly sexually abused three young men has told his trial the incidents did not happen, and warned the jury not to be affected by possible prejudice against the church.
Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, was one of Australia’s longest-serving Catholic clerics and is accused of committing 26 offences against three young men when he was the Bishop of Broome.
The District Court has been told of alcohol-fuelled, “shirts off” parties which Mr Saunders allegedly held in Broome, including the church-owned home he lived in.
The prosecutor told the jury of multiple occasions when Mr Saunders allegedly abused the three males in various locations in WA’s north.
[PHOTO: Christopher Saunders has been charged with 26 offences. (ABC Kimberley: Ben Collins)]
But in his opening statement to the court, Mr Saunders’s lawyer, Tony Hager, said his client denied the sexual allegations.
“He’s saying these things didn’t happen,” he said.
He warned that witnesses may have a motivation to lie or exaggerate, and he suggested that alcohol or substance abuse may have affected their memories.
[PHOTO: Tony Hager told the jury not to be influenced by views on the Catholic church. (ABC News: David Weber )]
Mr Hager also said there was a sentiment in the community regarding “matters of this type” involving people in religious institutions.
“You have feelings,” Mr Hager said, adding that it was “only natural” to have sympathy for those making the allegations.
“Whatever feelings you may have, they are not to guide you,” he told the jury.
‘Unorthodox socialising’: lawyer
The court was told on Monday that a number of witnesses would be called to give evidence about their experiences with Mr Saunders, which were not subject to charges.
Mr Hager told the jury these accounts could not fill the gaps of “large holes” in the evidence of the three complainants.
On Monday, the court was shown clips from surveillance footage recorded covertly at Mr Saunders’s home in Broome in 2024.
[PHOTO: One of Australia’s longest serving senior Catholic clerics had a sexual interest in young Aboriginal men and abused them in Western Australia’s far north over several years, a Perth court hears.]
The footage, which has not resulted in any charges, showed Mr Saunders and a man drinking while bare-chested, putting their feet on each other’s laps.
The prosecutor said the surveillance footage was “highly relevant” because it captured his interactions with young Aboriginal men.
But Mr Hager told the jury his client was not on trial for “unorthodox socialising” in 2024.
He said it was a case that boiled down to “someone’s saying one thing and another person’s saying another”.
Mr Saunders held the position of bishop for 25 years, until his retirement in 2021.
‘He’s the boss’
The court heard from one alleged victim who gave evidence via video link from another part of the state.
The man said that when he was in his teens, he used to talk with “Brother B”, referring to “Bishop”, at the Broome residence.
The man, who is now in his mid-30s, would talk about his childhood problems with the man he had thought was “a good bloke”.
[PHOTO: Christopher Saunders was Bishop of Broome for 25 years. (ABC Kimberley: Ben Collins)]
He told the court about one occasion when he and Mr Saunders sat facing each other, and he put his leg between Mr Saunders’s legs, with his foot “touching his privates”.
He said he was still under 18 at the time, and he did it because Mr Saunders wanted him to.
The man told the court Brother B assured him “no-one’s going to find out”.
The man described other occasions when Mr Saunders wrestled with him, tried to kiss him, and encouraged him to touch his “privates”.
The man said he agreed to do these things “just to please him” or to get it out of the way.
“He’s the boss,” the man said, going on to say that he continued to spend time with Mr Saunders after he turned 18.
The trial, which is set down for three weeks, continues.
By David Weber