AUSTRALIA
International Business Times
By Vittorio Hernandez | September 11, 2012
The Anglican Church in Newcastle has imposed punishment on four priests for engaging in sexual trysts with a teenage male in the 1970s and 1980s. The New South Wales (NSW) police initially investigated the charges but filed no charges; however, the church held its own probe which led to the defrocking of the clergy.
Reports identified the four Anglican priests, three of whom were defrocked on Monday, as Graeme Lawrence, the former dean of Newcastle, Bruce Hoare, Andrew Duncan and Graeme Sturt. Mr Sturt was banned from performing any ministry function for five years.
The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, in a statement released on Monday, confirmed that in an internal church inquiry, it found that Mr Duncan had oral sex with a 14-year old male teenager in 1979. Their sexual relationship continued for two years which included masturbation and anal sex.
When the same teenager was 16, he met Mr Lawrence in 1981 at the boy’s home. Their sexual relationship lasted for four years while Mr Lawrence served as dean of Newcastle. Their trysts include regular orgies with an Anglican teacher identified as Gregory Goyette.
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