Two clergymen on way to NZ to face sex charges

SYDNEY - Two Catholic clergymen will be extradited from Sydney tomorrow, after today exhausting nearly three years of legal bids fighting their return to Christchurch to face historic sex abuse charges.

Brother Rodger Moloney, 71, and Father Raymond Garchow, 59, were not in the High Court in Sydney today to hear a three-justice bench dismiss their application for special leave to appeal their extradition.

The pair have been in custody since October 5 when the Federal Court ordered their return to Christchurch where police want them to stand trial on charges relating to their tenure at the former Marylands school which catered mainly for boys with intellectual disabilities.

Moloney faces 28 charges of abusing boys at Marylands, a school run by the St John of God order. Garchow faces four charges. Police allege the offences were committed between 1971 and 1980.

The school closed in 1985.

Australian police are likely to escort the men on their flight, with arrangements being made late this afternoon. A member of the men's legal team said they would be flown to Christchurch tomorrow.

The case has been a saga, with the men being arrested in Sydney just after Christmas 2003*.

A local court magistrate ruled early last year that they should be extradited, but this was overturned in the Federal Court by Justice Rodney Madgwick, who said it would be "unjust and oppressive" to extradite them for charges which date as far back as 1971. He said they might not receive a fair trial in New Zealand.

The Australian Commonwealth, on behalf of New Zealand authorities, appealed to a full bench of the Federal Court, which reinstated the local court decision.

Moloney and Garchow then applied for special leave to appeal the full bench's decision and were granted an expedited hearing today.

After all the delays -- Justice Madgwick's decision was released a year after he heard submissions -- and complex legal argument, today's hearing was quick and anti-climactic.

The men's counsel, Tim Gain, had 20 minutes to put his case, and the Commonwealth the same amount in reply. Chief Justice Murray Gleeson and Justices William Gummow and Dyson Heydon then adjourned for five minutes before dismissing the application.

"We are not persuaded that the interests of justice require the granting of special leave to appeal to this court," Chief Justice Gleeson said.

Mr Gain said the federal court judges had failed to take into account all of Justice Madgwick's reasons for setting aside the extradition order in reaching their decision.

But Wendy Abraham, for the New Zealand authorities, said the Federal Court justices had reached the correct decision.

"It is up for the New Zealand courts to decide how the matter is dealt with," she said.

Police originally arrested three St John of God members in Sydney, but Magistrate Hugh Dillon ruled that an 83-year-old brother should be excused from extradition.

He had faced the most charges - 32 in total - but was suffering from brain atrophy and could not be expected to receive a fair trial because of that, said Magistrate Dillon.

The St John of God order could not be reached for comment tonight.

The order has paid for the men's costs, said to be as much as A$500,000 ($577,000).

- NZPA

* An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that they were arrested in 1993.