Father Klep refused bail

Tag: australia

Reporter: David Hardaker MARK COLVIN:

A Catholic priest, who was deported from Samoa last night, is in jail in Victoria this evening.

Father Frank Klep was refused bail when he appeared in a Melbourne magistrate's court today.

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Victorian police met Father Klep when he arrived at Melbourne airport this morning.

He's been wanted by the authorities for more than five years.

It was 1998 when a warrant was issued for his arrest on five counts of indecent assault, relating to his time at a boarding school run by the Salesian Catholic order in Melbourne.

The Salesian order today said it had not known there was a warrant out for his arrest - but Victorian police tonight said that they did tell the order that Klep was a wanted man.

But while the legal focus today fell on Father Klep, another Salesian priest remains under investigation in Samoa.

Father John Murphy was once head of the Salesian order in Australia and he's now accused of witnessing a false declaration on immigration documents Father Klep signed when he entered Samoa.

If true, that could mean that Father Murphy would be deported too.

David Hardaker reports.

DAVID HARDAKER: It was the end of the road for Father Frank Klep today when he was arrested at Melbourne airport, his passport was confiscated, and he was later taken to Melbourne Magistrate's court.

The 61-year-old priest, who's been living in the Pacific paradise of Samoa, was denied bail, with the magistrate declaring he was a flight risk, and that he had been prepared to lie before when he entered Samoa.

The magistrate said Father Klep had already shown a disinclination to subject himself to criminal proceedings - a reference to the fact that the Salesian priest had left Australia six years ago, with five separate indecent assault charges pending.

The court also heard that Father Klep had prior convictions for sexual assault of two boys aged 14 and 15, which occurred in the mid 1970s.

In his defence, Klep's lawyers argued there was no evidence of criminal activity by him since 1979.

It also emerged that, though he'd been wanted for the last six years, Klep had managed to come and go from Melbourne three times without being picked up by police.

And while it was the end of freedom for Father Klep, his arrest this morning was welcomed by those who have pressed for him to be arrested.

A former Salesian student:

FORMER STUDENT: I am elated, and I am very, very happy.

DAVID HARDAKER: Gerard, as we�ll call him, is in touch with other boys, now men, who�ve been awaiting the return of Father Klep.

FORMER STUDENT: They can�t believe the speed at which things have moved, because it had, there was nothing in the Catholic Church that could correct this.

DAVID HARDAKER: But now the focus has shifted to another senior church figure.

Father John Murphy was the head of the Salesian order in Australia when Father Klep was convicted in 1994 and when he left four years later for Samoa, with charges hanging over his head. Father Murphy, too, is in Samoa, though his time there may also come to a halt.

Father John Murphy was the witness to Father Klep's false immigration declaration when he went to Samoa in 1998 and faces deportation for that.

PM has spoken to a man who was abused by Klep, and for which Klep was convicted, in 1994.

This man, too, is glad to see the return of Father Klep, but he has dark memories of Father John Murphy.

VICTIM: At the time, I believed them to be very good, almost a friendship, of a kid of 15, when I first went to Melbourne, yeah, I would class myself as a, or class John Murphy as a friend.

DAVID HARDAKER: Indeed, they were such good friends, that Father Murphy presided over this man's wedding. But the relationship changed dramatically when this man made his sexual assault allegations against Father Klep.

VICTIM: And when this other priest went up in court, Father John Murphy went to his aid.

DAVID HARDAKER: And what do you mean by that? When you say Father John Murphy went to his aid?

VICTIM: Well, he stood up for him in court and tried to say to the court that I was promiscuous whilst I was living in the Don Bosco Hostel. But also, that he didn�t know me as a person, which was an actual lie, seeing as I lived at the hostel for four years, and he also married me.

DAVID HARDAKER: So, just to get this straight, Father John Murphy denied really knowing you as a person?

VICTIM: That�s correct.

DAVID HARDAKER: What did he say?

VICTIM: Well, he wouldn�t even acknowledge my being in the Magistrate�s Court in 1994, he walked straight past me, did not acknowledge me whatsoever, any way, shape of form.

DAVID HARDAKER: The Salesian order is still refusing to comment today, and has gagged any of its priests from speaking.

Today, the head of the Salesian order issued a statement saying that the Salesians had not been aware of details of complaints against Father Klep, and only heard about them through the media this week

The head of the order also said he was not aware that the police had informed the Salesians of any outstandng warrant for Father Klep. Late today, though, the Victorian police contradicted that version, saying they had told the Salesian order that Father Klep was wanted.

The police say they did this on August 10, 1998.

MARK COLVIN: David Hardaker.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1140853.htm