Michael Charles Glennon

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Michael Charles Glennon (b. ca. 1944) is a convicted Australian child molester and former Roman Catholic priest, one of the most notorious clergy sex abuse cases in that country. Glennon ran a youth camp in Lancefield, Victoria, where most of the abuse took place.[1] As of 2006, Glennon has been convicted of sexually abusing 15 children in court cases spanning 25 years.[2] A victim testified in 1986 that Glennon said he had "lost count" of the children he had assaulted.[3]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Glennon was born in Preston, a working class suburb of Melbourne. He had nine brothers and sisters.[3] In 1971 he was admitted to the priesthood and began work as an assistant pastor at St. Monica's in Moonee Ponds, where he and his Labrador retriever were popular with "hundreds" of children.[3] He soon launched his youth camp, Karaglen, on 16 ha on bushland outside of Lancefield. Over the years it would grow from tents to a few huts and a hall with a private bedroom for Glennon.[3] Billed as the Peaceful Hand Youth Foundation, it centered around a mix of karate and high-church Christian liturgy; Glennon claimed to have a black belt.[3]

Glennon transferred in 1977 to St Gabriel's in Reservoir, but left after just a year. In 1979, the church withdrew his right to preach, but had no control over his activities at the camp. In 1984, he was officially defrocked by the church. The church claims that defamation law prevented them from acting to expose him.[3] Afterward, Glennon continued to preach, ministering to a congregation from his home in Thornbury. The families included poor whites and Aboriginals.[3]

Glennon's charisma and religious devotion endeared him to many parents, who allowed their children to go with Glennon on overnight trips or even sleep in his bed, many years after his first charges.[3] Children invited to these assignations suspected nothing, and many long kept their silence.[3]

[edit] Trials

  • In 1978 Glennon was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl. He was sentenced to two years in prison, and served seven months.[3] Nevertheless he continued to run the camp, where he was often the only adult present.[1]
  • In 1985 Glennon was charged with raping five boys and one girl, aged 12 to 16, all of them visitors to his camp during 1978-80.[4] The trial was delayed several years due to publication of Glennon's prior conviction by Derryn Hinch. In 1991, Glennon was found guilty on the charges of indecent assault of children under 16 years, "attempted buggery" of a boy under 14 years, and "buggery with violence".[4] He appealed his own conviction to the High Court, which found that despite the publicity, the trial was not unfair. The ruling overturned an acquittal by the Court of Criminal Appeal.[5] Glennon was sent to prison for seven years.[3]
  • In 1999 and August 2003, Glennon was convicted on further charges. These convictions were only made public after the final conviction in October 2003.[3]
  • In 2003, Glennon was found guilty of 23 other offences against children, including rape, indecent assault, gross indecency, sexually penetrating a child aged between 10 and 16 and sexually penetrating a child under 10. He was acquitted of one count of indecent assault.[2] These assaults took place between 1986 and 1991, while he was free during the litigation of his case and that of Derryn Hinch.[3]

[edit] Derryn Hinch

In 1985, radio commentator Derryn Hinch found that Glennon was to be tried on new charges, while still running the camp. Hinch, who was concerned that parents were unknowingly sending their children to Glennon's camp, first appealed privately to then Victoria Premier John Cain and the then-Attorney General, as well as the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia, but in Hinch's words, they "washed their hands" of the situation.[1] Subsequently Hinch publicly identified Glennon during his trial on the third set of charges, in spite of the strong sub judice rule under Australian jurisprudence. This delayed the trial while Hinch was tried on contempt of court charges; Hinch was fined $10,000 and jailed for 12 days.[1]. This was the first time anyone had gone to jail on a prior restraint issue in Australia.[6]. Hinch appealed his case as far as the High Court of Australia, which affirmed his conviction. In its ruling the Court held that despite Hinch's motivation of warning the public that Glennon continued to hold a position in a youth organisation, it was sufficient to inform them of the current charges against him, and that the information about his prior conviction was prejudicial under Australian law.[5] Hinch calls the incident "the thing I'm most proud of in my life."[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e "That's life for a radio survivor", The Fifth Estate: Media Analysis by RMIT Journalism, 15 June 2004. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  2. ^ a b Jewel Topsfield. "Notorious pedophile guilty", Herald Sun, 10 October 2003. Retrieved on 2006-12-11. Republished by the Poynter Institute.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Dan Silkstone. "Priest and predator", October 11, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  4. ^ a b Fergus Shiel. "Straight shooter to hear complaints", The Sydney Morning Herald, August 22 2002. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  5. ^ a b The Law Reform Commission of Western Australia (March 2002). Discussion Paper on Contempt by Publication. Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  6. ^ "Under the hammer", The Fifth Estate: Media Analysis by RMIT Journalism, 8 August 2004. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.

[edit] External links

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