Christopher Saunders: Suppression order lifted on former Broome Bishop’s court case

The former Bishop of Broome — who is facing historical sex offences — has failed in a bid to gag some of the media coverage of his case, after a magistrate set aside an order suppressing all the details of the proceedings and the publication of the Bishop’s image. 7NEWS revealed on February 21 that Bishop Christopher Saunders had been arrested outside his Broome home and questioned by child sex abuse detectives. After spending the night in custody, the 74-year-old was charged with two counts of sexual penetration without consent, 14 counts of unlawful and indecent assault, and three counts of a person in authority indecently dealing with a child. His lawyer, Seamus Rafferty, indicated his client would plead not guilty to all charges — and requested a suppression order restricting media coverage of proceedings, telling the court the reporting had jeopardised his client’s right to a fair trial. Magistrate Deen Potter granted a temporary suppression order. But at a special hearing in Broome Magistrates Court on Friday, Mr Potter ruled the suppression order be lifted on the basis of “open justice”. “Going forward, in my view, there are sufficient safeguards in place (that will) ensure the interests of ... a fair trial,” he said. Mr Rafferty said in court he did not believe there was public interest in the the previous reporting of the proceedings, and accused media organisations of misreporting his client’s case. The ruling allows all the details of the proceedings to be published, including additional charges of inadequate storage of a firearm and holding a firearm without a licence. The court heard the alleged sexual offending occurred between March 2008 and March 2014 in Broome, Kununurra and Kalumburu . Bishop Saunders, 74, was also allegedly found with more than 1200 rounds of ammunition and a shotgun in his Broome home in December 2023. He is due to appear in court for a committal mention on June 17 and remains on bail. The retired cleric has always denied all the allegations relating to the sex offence charges. Since the acquittal of Cardinal George Pell in the High Court in 2020, Bishop Saunders has become the highest-ranked Catholic in the country to face a sex crimes prosecution. It is believed he may be the highest-ranked official of any religion in Australia to face such serious accusations. Bishop Saunders was ordained as a priest in 1976 and movedsil full-time to the Kimberley region before becoming a Bishop in 1996. He resigned from his position in Broome in August 2021, but has retained his title and entitlements.