Six and a half years: former Broome bishop jailed for abusing two young Indigenous men

A former Australian Catholic bishop has been sentenced to six years and six months in prison for sexually abusing two young Indigenous men, in one of the most senior clergy convictions in the country's long reckoning with church abuse.

Christopher Saunders, 76, was sentenced on Wednesday in the Perth District Court of Western Australia. A jury had convicted him in August of 13 of 19 charges, including one count of sexual penetration without consent and twelve counts of unlawful and indecent assault, for offences committed between 2008 and 2019 across the Broome Diocese he led on the country's tropical northwest coast. He will be eligible for parole in February 2031.

Prosecutors told the trial that Saunders groomed young Indigenous men, drawing them to church-owned property with alcohol and cigarettes paid for with church funds. The court heard that one victim, abused over several years, described himself in a statement as a toy that had been used. Sentencing judge Martin Flynn said Saunders had disregarded the dignity of each victim in prioritising his own gratification.

Saunders was acquitted of six charges involving a third accuser, and did not give evidence at trial. He led the remote Broome Diocese, a region larger than France with about 50,000 people, most of its Catholics Indigenous, from 1996 until he resigned in 2021 after allegations first surfaced.

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, apologised to the victims, saying their trust had been betrayed, and said the church would redouble its efforts on safeguarding, accountability and transparency.

Saunders is among the most senior Catholic clerics in Australia to be convicted and not later cleared on appeal. For the Indigenous communities of the Kimberley, advocates say the sentence closes only the courtroom chapter: the questions about how a powerful institution protected its own for so long remain open.