A Western Australia court sentenced former Bishop of Broome Christopher Saunders, 76, to six years and six months in prison on Wednesday for sexually abusing two young Indigenous men, according to the Associated Press. Saunders will be eligible for parole in February 2031, per the District Court of Western Australia sentencing.
A jury convicted Saunders in August of 13 of 19 sexual abuse charges tied to conduct prosecutors say took place in the Broome Diocese between 2008 and 2019. He was acquitted of six charges involving a third accuser, and four additional charges involving a child younger than 13 were dropped on the first day of his three-week trial, the AP reported.
What Happened In Court
The acquitted charges accused Saunders of indecent dealing with a child over the age of 16. Western Australia sets the general age of consent at 16, but the threshold rises to 18 when the older person holds a position of trust, power or responsibility, a status that applied to Saunders as bishop, according to the AP.
Prosecutors alleged Saunders lured young Indigenous men to a house owned by the church using alcohol and cigarettes purchased with church funds. Saunders led the Broome Diocese from 1996 until his resignation in 2021. The diocese covers a stretch of Australia’s tropical northwest coast larger than France and serves roughly 50,000 people, most of them Indigenous Catholics, per the AP.
The case against Saunders traces back to a Vatican investigation opened in 2022. The Vatican handed its findings to the Western Australia Police Force in 2023, and police charged Saunders in 2024. The report was never officially made public, but its findings were leaked to Australia’s Seven Network, which reported Saunders likely sexually assaulted four Indigenous youths and potentially groomed another 67 Indigenous youths and men, according to the AP.
Church Response
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, addressed survivors directly after the sentencing. “To each victim and survivor who courageously revealed what they had endured, we want to say this: We are sorry for the pain and suffering that was inflicted on you. We are sorry that your trust was so directly and profoundly betrayed by a leader of the Church,” Costelloe said, according to the AP.
Saunders is now counted among the most senior Australian Catholic clergy convicted in the global clergy abuse scandal, the AP reported.
What’s Next
Saunders will remain in custody with parole eligibility beginning in February 2031, based on the sentence reported by the AP. No additional charges, appeals or church disciplinary actions were detailed in connection with the sentencing.
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