{"id":71092,"date":"2026-08-13T08:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/71092\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T08:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:42:19","slug":"former-broome-bishop-christopher-saunders-guilty-of-sexually-abusing-young-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/71092\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Broome bishop Christopher Saunders guilty of sexually abusing young men"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former Bishop of Broome, who at the peak of his powers was one of the most senior and long-serving Catholic clerics in the country, has been found guilty of sexually abusing young men.<\/p>\n

Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, has been on trial accused of sex offences against three young men when he was the Bishop of a remote area of Western Australia three times larger than England.<\/p>\n

\"Bishop<\/p>\n

Christopher Saunders served as the Catholic Bishop of Broome for 25 years. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

After a trial that ran for more than three weeks, a District Court jury took almost seven hours to find him guilty of abusing two of those men.<\/p>\n

He was convicted of one count of sexual penetration and 12 counts of indecent assault.<\/p>\n

\"Pope<\/p>\n

Bishop Christopher Saunders meets Pope Francis in 2019. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Saunders was found not guilty of six other charges.<\/p>\n

There was no reaction from the former bishop after the verdicts were read out.<\/p>\n

The hierarchy of the churchThe Catholic Church hierarchy is generally in this order: pope, bishops\/archbishops, priests, deacons.Cardinals occupy a special position within the structure.A bishop is the chief priest of a diocese, which cover multiple churches in a jurisdiction.Bishops are responsible for the pastoral care of the people in their jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

Source: perthcatholic.org.au<\/p>\n

Vulnerable victims<\/p>\n

The victims were young Aboriginal men who lived in the Kimberley, where Indigenous people make up more than 40 per cent of the population.<\/p>\n

The assaults happened at various places, including at the Bishop’s Catholic church-owned residence in the popular tourist haven of Broome, and at a retreat known as the beach house.<\/p>\n

The court had been told of “shirts off” gatherings that Saunders held, supplying alcohol and food to young men wearing only boxer shorts.<\/p>\n

The then-bishop would occasionally engage in wrestling and boxing with the men, the court heard.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An aerial view of the retreat showing the ‘beach house’ in WA’s north where some of the offences occurred. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

The court had heard Mr Saunders had used his feet to touch young men sexually, grabbed their “privates” and in one instance, engaged in oral sex without consent.<\/p>\n

As he chose not to give evidence in his defence, the playing of police interview recordings were the only occasions when the jurors could hear denials from Mr Saunders himself.<\/p>\n

The prosecution told the jury Mr Saunders had a sexual interest in young Aboriginal men and a “tendency” to act on that interest.<\/p>\n

In closing submissions, prosecutor Adam Ebell said while the victims did have criminal histories, the jurors should focus on what they said happened to them at the hands of Saunders, a trusted figure at least one of the men referred to as ‘Brother B’.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Adam Ebell encouraged the jury to focus on the testimony of the men. (ABC News: David Weber)<\/p>\n

Defence lawyer Tony Hager said his client’s behaviour might have been unusual, “boozy” and “sleazy”.<\/p>\n

But Mr Hager said Saunders wasn’t on trial for inviting young Aboriginal men over to have a drink, or for using church funds to buy alcohol, or for taking alcohol to a dry community.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Defence lawyer Tony Hager described the behaviour as “sleazy”. (ABC News: David Weber\u00a0)<\/p>\n

He told the jury his client “wasn’t on trial in Rome” for not adhering to a code of conduct, or “standing before the Pope” trying to justify his pastoral care as he was not on trial “as a representative of the Catholic Church”.<\/p>\n

Mr Hager suggested the memories of the three complainants may have been affected by alcohol use, especially given the passage of time since the alleged events.<\/p>\n

Bishop taken into custody<\/p>\n

It can now be revealed that on the first day of the trial, without the jury present, the prosecution told the court four charges, involving a much younger alleged victim, would be discontinued.<\/p>\n

They were three counts of indecent dealing with a child under 13, and one count of sexual penetration of a child under 13.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The bishop was well known in WA’s north, pictured here sitting for an interview with the ABC in the 2010’s. (ABC Kimberley: Ben Collins)<\/p>\n

The incidents were alleged to have occurred when Mr Saunders was the Bishop of Broome.<\/p>\n

Saunders will next face court on September 21 for a sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n

He made no application for bail and has been remanded in custody.<\/p>\n

‘Deeply sorry’<\/p>\n

In a statement, Bishop of Broome Tim Norton apologised to victims, saying the diocese was “deeply sorry for the hurt they have experienced”.<\/p>\n

“We are sorry for the shame they have endured,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

“We are sorry that it has taken so long for their voices to be heard and for their pain to be acknowledged.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former Bishop of Broome, who at the peak of his powers was one of the most senior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,52072,52075,52078,52073,52074,52077,52071,52076,466,463,465,464],"class_list":["post-71092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-bishop","tag-bishop-child-abuse","tag-bishop-of-broome","tag-broome-bishop","tag-broome-bishop-child-sex-abuse","tag-catholic-church-child-sex-abuse","tag-christopher-saunders","tag-christopher-saunders-child-sex-abuse","tag-perth-courts","tag-perth-news","tag-wa-courts","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}