(AUSTRALIA)
Sydney Morning Herald [Sydney, New South Wales, Australia]
September 21, 2026
By Hannah Murphy
The disgraced former bishop of Broome who used church funds and properties to target vulnerable Aboriginal men will learn his prison sentence next month.
Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, appeared in WA District Court on Monday after he was found guilty by a jury on 13 charges including unlawful and indecent assault and penetration without consent in August.
The trial, which ran for three weeks, found Saunders had committed the offences against two Aboriginal men who were devout Catholics and lived in the Kimberley diocese where he was the senior-most Catholic in the northern WA district.
The jury found Saunders had engaged in systemic grooming of the two victims, including instances where the bishop would use church funds and church-owned properties to have alcohol-fuelled “shirts-off” parties.
Saunders was set down to learn his fate on Monday morning, but District Court Judge Martin Flynn flagged early in the hearing he would not be delivering his final sentence until a later date, and instead opted to hear the prosecution and defence’s sentencing submissions.
Prosecutor Adam Ebell said there were several aggravating factors in relation to the bishop’s offending, including the large age gaps between the two victims – a difference of 42 and 44 years, respectively – his position of power, his breaching of trust, and the ongoing nature of his offending against one victim.
Ebell argued the bishop knew about his seniority in the community, and the inherent vulnerability of the two victims who had issues with alcohol.
There continues to be ongoing legal questions about how to deal with the rape charge against one of the victims, due to his age at the time of the offending, but defence lawyer Tony Hager said his client accepted the appropriate sentence would likely mean “immediate imprisonment”.
However, Hager also argued the rape was on the lower to middle range of seriousness when it came to offences of that type. He said the act, which was committed at a hotel in Kununurra, was not prolonged, and there was no accompanying violence and no deprivation of liberty.
Hager continually emphasised while Saunders accepted the jury’s verdict, he would maintain his innocence.
Hager said it would be important for Flynn to consider the bishop had no prior record and had done “good work” in the name of the Catholic Church.
However, Flynn said he would struggle to accept “good character” evidence on face value.
“One of the reasons given for his good character [in a letter provided to the court] is he gives paid work to young Aboriginal men,” Flynn said.
He said while this was true, one of Saunders’ victims had been one of the Aboriginal men he had paid to work for him.
Flynn also said it could likely work against the bishop that he sat on the town’s social justice committee, given it went to his character that he had offended regardless of seemingly knowing better.
Hager argued Saunders was struggling behind bars in Hakea prison.
“He has been in the Kimberley most of his life,” he said.
“His isolation from his community in a general sense [has been difficult].
“He’s had two visits as I understand … and I hesitate to use the words being ‘off country’, but he’s away from where he spent the majority of his life.”
Saunders was ordered to leave the Kimberley diocese in 2022, when the Vatican commenced an investigation into allegations about his conduct while running the administration of the parish.
In a letter sent to church members at the time, Bishop Michael Morrissey – who also gave evidence at the trial – confirmed Saunders had been asked to leave his church-owned property on Piggott Way in Broome’s town centre.
“The Holy See has also authorised Archbishop Coleridge to issue a decree stipulating that Bishop Saunders is to reside outside the diocese of Broome for the duration of the investigation,” the letter said.
It is unclear if the decree still stands.
Ebell said while the prosecution would not argue against considering Saunders’ prior good character, Flynn needed to carefully weigh his view against the conduct.
Sentencing will be handed down on October 7.