Former Broome Bishop Jailed for Sex Offences Against Two Men
Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, the former Catholic bishop of Broome, was sentenced to six years and six months in prison after a jury in the Western Australian District Court found him guilty of 13 sex offences against two young Aboriginal men The Guardian.
The offending occurred between 2008 and 2019. The convictions were for one count of sexual penetration without consent and 12 counts of unlawful and indecent assault. He will be eligible for parole, or supervised release before the full term ends, after four years and six months. The sentence was backdated to August, when he was convicted and taken into custody.
The prosecution did not win on every charge. The jury acquitted Saunders of six other charges, including two counts of indecently dealing with a child over 16 under his authority and four counts of unlawful and indecent assault. A further seven charges did not reach the jury, having been dismissed during the trial for lack of evidence.
Prosecutors said Saunders hosted alcohol-fuelled parties at Catholic church-owned properties to gain access to Aboriginal boys and men to sexually assault them. The two complainants whose accounts underpinned the convictions knew him as "Brother B."
Saunders was ordained as the second Bishop of Broome in 1996. He presided over 13 schools and nine parishes before stepping aside in 2020 when sex abuse claims became public. Pope Francis accepted his resignation a year later.
The criminal process lasted over two years. The retired bishop appeared in court in remote Western Australia in February 2024 on charges of sexual offences against children Reuters. He was convicted of sexual abuse in August 2026 Vatican News. A parallel Catholic Church investigation was suspended during the Western Australian police investigation. It will restart now the trial has finished.
The broader context here is institutional as well as penal. The prison term closes the criminal phase. It opens a second phase for the Diocese of Broome and for Rome, much like a workplace inquiry running alongside a court case. The restarted church process will determine his canonical status, his formal standing in the Church, and any further disciplinary outcome, separate from the court's finding. The questions to weigh are how authority over schools, parishes and church housing enabled prolonged access, how complaints moved through police and church channels after 2020, and what reparative steps follow for the two men and the wider Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley.
