More convictions for pedophile priest
By Dan Silkstone
October 11, 2003
One of Australia’s most notorious pedophiles, former Catholic priest Michael Charles Glennon, was convicted yesterday of molesting three boys between 1986 and 1991.
After the decision, Judge Roland Williams lifted suppression orders allowing details of Glennon’s crimes to be reported for the first time - including convictions in 1999 and August this year.
The verdict, by a County Court jury, was the culmination of a legal saga that included aborted trials, a controversial intervention by broadcaster Derryn Hinch and appeals to the High Court.
Glennon, 59, was convicted of 23 charges against the three boys. The children, who were members of an extended Aboriginal family, were abused at Karaglen, a rural property near Lancefield.
At Karaglen, Glennon ran youth camps as well as performing Mass and other priestly duties despite being banned by the church in 1979 from ministering and having been forced from the priesthood in 1984.
The holder of a black belt in karate, he committed many of the abuses during martial arts camps run by his Peaceful Hand Youth Foundation.
During the trial, prosecutor Rosemary Carlin said Glennon had used his knowledge of indigenous culture to win the boys’ trust - telling them sexual acts were “secret men’s business”.
Glennon was found guilty of 13 counts of indecent assault, a number of counts of sexual penetration and one count of rape.
Ms Carlin said the boys’ parents had trusted Glennon - inviting him to their homes and allowing him to share a bed with their children.
“They think the world of Glennon; he is their priest, their friend, their confidant… He has shown them that he has a profound understanding and respect for the Aboriginal culture,” she said.
One of the boys, now a man in his late 20s, said Glennon had abused him from the age of six or seven, scaring him with ghost stories before inviting him into his bed.
The other boys said they were abused between the ages of 10 and 13. They said Glennon told them that if they told anyone of their abuse, an Aboriginal spirit would pursue them.
Yesterday was the fifth time Glennon had been convicted of child-sex offences. He was found guilty of similar charges in 1978 and 1991 and is serving a minimum sentence of 61/2 years imposed in 1999 for offences against six children in the 1970s.
In August, Glennon was convicted of abusing a male child in his bedroom at Karaglen during the early 1980s. That hearing was a retrial ordered after a second 1999 conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Glennon gained notoriety in 1985 when Hinch named him on air as a pedophile who was working with children despite a 1978 conviction for molesting a 10-year-old girl. That broadcast, made while Glennon was facing further child sex charges, led to Hinch being jailed for 12 days for contempt of court.
In 1991, Glennon was convicted of sexually abusing four children but won an appeal after arguing that media coverage had prejudiced his trial. That decision was overturned by the High Court, which reimposed the minimum seven-year sentence.
Glennon will be sentenced at a later date.
