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> Church to pay $129m over sex abuse Church to pay $129m over sex abuse A judge in Los Angeles has unsealed the details of a record $US100 million ($A129 million) settlement with the Catholic Diocese of Orange in southern California over sexual abuse allegations against clergy. The settlement resolves 90 lawsuits brought against the diocese, including allegations against 31 priests, 10 lay people, 1 religious brother and 2 nuns. The earliest allegation dated to 1936, the latest to 1996. It is the largest clergy-abuse settlement in the US to date. The largest previous lump-sum settlement was $US85 million paid by the Archdiocese of Boston to 552 plaintiffs in 2002. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles faces more than 500 lawsuits. Former priest to stand trial A former Anglican priest has been committed to stand trial in the Hobart Supreme Court over a string of child sexual abuse charges dating back to the 1970s. Louis Victor Daniels, 57, of Charnwood in Canberra, appeared in Hobart Magistrates Court via videolink yesterday. He pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of indecent assault and 2 counts of sexual intercourse with a young person under the age of 17. Accused of Vile Crimes and lying low in Sydney - Church sex suspects finally facing court A brother and a priest from the Catholic St John of God Order will be extradited to New Zealand to face 64 allegations of sexual abuse which allegedly took place at Marylands Residential School, a school for boys with learning difficulties, in New Zealand. The alleged offences date back half a century. At the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney yesterday, two of the men, Rodger Maloney, 69, and Raymond Garchow, 56, were ordered to return to New Zealand while William Lebler, 83, was freed because of his age and ill health. Granting the extradition order, Magistrate Hugh Dillon described the allegations as shocking and numerous and almost as bad as could be imagined. The St John of God Order has already paid more than $4 million to 56 alleged victims of abuse and NSW Police have investigated allegations against more than a dozen St John of God brothers. Ex-principal on 29 charges A former Catholic school principal, Frank Gerard Klep, 61, facing 29 child sex charges dating from the 1970s, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court yesterday. Klep, a member of the Salesian Order, was a teacher at the order's Rupertswood College in Sunbury during the period and eventually rose to the position of principal. Klep has been charged with 28 counts of indecent assault and one of buggery involving 8 boys, allegedly committed at Sunbury between 1973 and 1979. He was earlier charged with 5 counts of indecent assault involving a 15 year old student at the college in 1973 and has since been charged with a further 24 offences. He was released on conditional bail. Pedophile priest may face more changes Pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale will likely face more sex abuse charges relating to a further 9 people. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Paul Coghlan QC, had earlier refused to press further charges against Ridsdale because he deemed a further prosecution was "not in the public interest" as the allegations could have been heard at Ridsdale's original trial. Mr Coghlan has now responded to what he called "disquiet in the community” and has offered to reconsider that decision. Ridsdale, 70, was jailed in 1994 on a representative 46 charges of sexual abuse involving 21 boys and girls between 1961 and 1982. He was sentenced to 18 years' jail, with a 15 year non-parole period. Revised offer sent to abuse victims The victims of serial pedophile Robert Brandenberg, a former Church of England Boys Society leader, are likely to receive a revised compensation offer for consideration next week. Yesterday, the lawyers acting for the 36 victims met Anglican Church lawyers to discuss the new offer, describing the mediation session as encouraging and a step forward. Brandenberg drowned himself in Thorndon Park reservoir in 1999, after being charged with child sex offences. While only 36 of his victims have made contact with lawyers, he is thought to have abused more than 200 boys in SA, Victoria and Tasmania. |
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