A Catholic friar has been accused of forcing an eight-year-old girl to perform sex acts by threatening her with eternal damnation at a primary school in Brisbane.
In the mid-1970s, Fr Anthony Francis “Damian” Colbourne allegedly told the year four student if she didn’t fondle him, both she and her parents would go to hell.
The alleged victim told police the 74-year-old had called her “a good girl who wants to go to heaven with your mummy and daddy”, according to the Courier Mail.
She said he forced her to perform oral sex on him and touched her vagina on multiple occasions.
Fr Colbourne is a member of the Capuchin Friars who are recognisable because of their distinctive brown robes.
He was named as part of the child abuse Royal Commission and was charged with 13 child sex offences including indecent treatment of a child under 14 and indecent assault.
“These might be 40-year-old offences but these charges demonstrate that police will be tenacious in our pursuit of alleged child sex offenders and bring them to justice,” Detective Sergeant Michael Froggatt said outside of the Wynnum Magistrates Court where the case was being heard.
“The royal commission has brought to light the ongoing pain and suffering of victims of institutional sex abuse and we have a duty to try to help bring them some form of closure.”
Despite objections from the defence, Fr Colbourne has been allowed to continue living in the Capuchin friary on the condition he has no contact with minors.
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