Police in Western Australia have searched a house owned by the catholic church in Broome, amid a long-running investigation into sexual assault allegations.
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00:00 The ABC received a tip off at about lunchtime on Monday that a large number of WA police
00:06 officers were converging on this property here in a quiet suburban street in the Kimberley
00:12 town of Broome.
00:14 Police officers were here, there were a total of about seven vehicles right through the
00:18 afternoon, fair bit of activity at some points carrying boxes, storage containers into the
00:22 property.
00:23 The ABC understands the house is owned by the Catholic Church, specifically the Diocese
00:29 of Broome and we understand that this search is linked to the ongoing investigation into
00:36 the former Bishop of Broome, Christopher Saunders.
00:39 Now Christopher Saunders has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing but he has been the focus of
00:43 a fair bit of discussion and investigation in recent years.
00:47 He's been a cleric in the remote Kimberley region as both a priest and the bishop for
00:53 almost five decades but it's been in the last four years that there's been a lot of turmoil
00:58 within the diocese.
00:59 That is because in early 2020 allegations of sexual misconduct first became public.
01:05 They were made by young Indigenous men from here in the Kimberley region.
01:09 Now after those allegations of sexual misconduct were made public in early 2020, several things
01:15 occurred.
01:16 A WA police investigation was launched but closed without any charges being laid.
01:21 Bishop Christopher Saunders actually resigned his position and the Vatican in Rome actually
01:26 commenced an independent inquiry into his time running the Broome Diocese.
01:31 Now that was leaked to the media late in 2023, made international headlines and it outlined
01:36 some concerns about financial mismanagement, again the allegations of sexual misconduct
01:41 and also mistreatment of staff that had worked under him here.
01:44 WA police have since confirmed they have started a fresh investigation into the former bishop
01:50 and we understand that the search of this property here today is the latest development
01:54 I suppose in that process that has now been occurring for about a four year period.
01:59 Police have confirmed that the search has been done by members of the Perth based child
02:04 sex abuse unit but they are not revealing any information about what they have found
02:09 or whether any charges have been laid.
02:10 [BLANK_AUDIO]