Christopher Saunders: Inside the double life of a bishop and sexual predator hiding in plain sight

Christopher Saunders was a sexual predator hiding in plain sight.

As bishop of the diocese of Broome, Saunders had forged a career teaching Catholicism and visiting remote Aboriginal communities in the State’s Kimberley for more than 25 years.

But simmering beneath a veneer of philanthropy was a shocking truth: the clergyman was living a sinful and sleazy double life, plying young Aboriginal men with booze in exchange for sexual advances.

News of the bishop’s arrest in 2024 shocked the coastal town of Broome, but for one woman it cemented long-running whispers that one of Australia’s most powerful members of the Catholic Church was a rapist.

THE SECRETARY

Cherrille Quilty hadn’t been looking for a new gig, but was enticed after seeing that a job for the bishop’s secretary came with rent-free accommodation.

“I approached the bishop after mass, and he goes, ‘What makes you think you’re qualified?’” she told The West Australian.

“I said, ‘Well, I actually have a background in human management ... I know about business, I know about process, and I’m pretty sure I could be a really effective secretary.’”

Ms Quilty was hired as Saunders’ personal secretary in November 2016, but it wasn’t long until the cracks in her employer’s facade started to show.

She recalled one incident during which Saunders screamed at her in front of her colleagues for talking about AFL tipping.

“I said what team my husband tipped, and he screamed across the room: ‘I don’t give a damn what your husband (chose)‘ ... the humiliation and having to be in control all the time,” she said.

“He was a complete and utter bully, I was shocked at his behaviour. I had never worked in close proximity with a priest before, and I’m a relatively new Catholic, so I expected so much more.

“I expected graciousness, I expected solemnity; someone who was deep in thought about religion. There was none of that, absolutely none of it. He was the total opposite of everything I expected.”

Overtime, Ms Quilty caught wind of Saunders’ offending after noticing him spend lots of time with young Aboriginal men.

She was ordered to transfer money into the men’s bank accounts and purchase mobile phones and SIM cards as gifts.

“I’m a mother and a grandmother, I immediately noticed that there’s a 62-year-old in the company of young Aboriginal men constantly, and I thought this is so wrong, this is not right,” she said.

“Obviously my own intuition was right, but it was what he was instructing me to do in the workplace that really cemented everything I thought was true; I was told to drop whatever I was doing and pay these boys money ... and I had to go to the bank and deposit it in their bank accounts.

“It became so obvious, he didn’t try to hide any of that.”

Ms Quilty quit her job in 2018 before contacting a Kimberley police station to make a formal statement, confessing to officers her deep-seated suspicions that her former boss was a sexual predator.

It would take nearly six years for the former bishop to be arrested, and a further two years before a WA jury found him guilty of repeatedly sexually abusing two young men.

THE TRIAL

Saunders’ high-profile trial unfolded before a jury in the WA District Court in July this year.

The 76-year-old shuffled into the courthouse each morning either wearing a black cassock or black suit, with a small cross pinned to the lapel of his jacket. He did not give any evidence in his own trial.

Over the course of 17 days, the jury learnt that Saunders lived alone in a private Broome residence where he spent most of his time, except for trips to a rural beach house which was also provided by the church.

It was there that he preyed on vulnerable young Aboriginal men, hosting alcohol-fuelled parties and grooming them with free booze, cigarettes and food.

Disturbingly, the gatherings came with a bizarre dress code demand of no shirts, where he insisted the men strip down to just their boxers. If the men weren’t wearing the correct style of boxer, Saunders would provide them with a new pair.

Many of the young men were battling with alcoholism, using it as a vice to numb memories of a turbulent childhood and emotional trauma.

But Saunders exploited their vulnerability, grooming one victim by telling him he had been good mates with his late-father.

“It made me feel really happy (and) excited in a way,” the man said in his evidence.

“Brother bishop said he was close to my father, he was like a brother ... it made me feel close to him, it made me feel OK. He was really supporting me, I (found him to be) a really good person.”

Saunders invited the then-16-year-old and his mates to come over to his Broome home and use his gym to workout and lift weights, shirtless.

He would compliment the boy’s physique, telling him he was in “good shape” and encouraged him to keep working on his “abs and muscles.”

On other occasions, he would take the boy shopping, buying “all the clothes that I wanted” from stores like Coles and Target.

The victim recalled the bishop placing his genitals onto the young man’s foot, telling him: “Come on brother, no one is going to know, no one is going to know, no one is going to find out.”

He said he felt no choice but to “go along with him just to please him”, and that he was scared the bishop would “shut me up” if he was disobeyed.

On another occasion, the man said that he and Saunders visited a beach house, during which the bishop tried kissing him.

“He was forcing himself to kiss me, I was moving away,” he said.

“He said something like, ‘Come on brother, no one is going to find out.’ I (went) ahead and kissed him. I didn’t like it one bit.”

During another incident, the man said Saunders joined him in the shower, washed his body with soap and touched his genitals.

“I pleased him to make him happy, like always,” he said.

The abuse would continue for around another seven years.

Saunders’ second victim recalled being just 19-years-old when the bishop placed his foot under his boxers and began rubbing his genitals.

On another occasion, Saunders plied him with alcohol before kissing him on the lips, telling him: “That was a type of brotherly love.”

The court released secret police footage taken from inside Saunders’ home which showed the bishop sitting shirtless in an armchair, drinking alcohol, across from another man. The man was not a complainant in the case.

In the video, Saunders can be seen manoeuvring the other man’s foot so it is rubbing over his genitals.

Ms Quilty was called to testify against her former boss and insisted she give face-to-face evidence so she could look Saunders in the eye.

“I had to be in front of him, it was the only way I could move forward with this,” she said.

“Seeing him hunched over and vulnerable, it was the best thing ever .. the power he had over those young men had shifted dramatically, and he was the one now that was vulnerable.”

She said that Saunders “totally betrayed” his victim’s trust — men who she said were already hurting and desperately searching for a parental figure.

“What people don’t understand is these men were reaching out for someone, they didn’t have a family life, they were reaching out for someone they could trust,” she said through tears.

“They were the most vulnerable people in Australia. They came from broken homes and alcohol families and drug addiction, it couldn’t be any worse.”

THE DEFENCE

Saunders’ defence argument was simple: The offending did not happen.

He was represented by barrister Tony Hager who spoke of long-entrenched scandals surrounding the Catholic Church, and urged the jury to push any prejudice aside.

Mr Hager grilled the witnesses and questioned the validity of their evidence, telling the jury that many had a history a drug and alcohol addiction, which had impaired their memory of his client. He said some were even giving evidence from prison.

But ultimately, the jury found Saunders guilty of 13 historic sex offences, including rape.

He was acquitted of three charges involving a third complainant, which allegedly occurred in Broome in 2016.

THE CONVICTION

District Court Judge Martin Flynn handed down his sentence of 6.5 years on Wednesday, telling Saunders that he prioritised his own sexual gratification whilst “disregarding the dignity” of each of his victims.

He said that Saunders took advantage of his victims, whom he knew were alcoholics, by seducing them with alcohol to the point of intoxication.

“(One of your victims) was so intoxicated that it was impossible for him to freely and voluntary consent to what you did,” he said.

“You disregarded the dignity of each of those victims ... you disregarded their right of free choice.”

Judge Flynn said he could not give any weight to Saunders’ character references, stating, “the secret nature of the offending means frankly, that people who thought (they) knew you well, did not know you well.”

In a heartbreaking victim impact statement, one of Saunders’ victims said he was treated like a “toy.”

“I trusted him, I thought he wanted me to be a better person, when I realised after all those years I was a toy he was using,” he said.

“My head is pounding now, I am in so much pain, I have too much running through my head for what he did to me.

“I can’t talk about it, it f***ed my head up ... I am ashamed of myself. I want to move on but I can’t move on because it never leaves my head.”

Speaking outside court, Detective Sergeant Andrew Broadley, who led the investigation, said Saunders’ victims were pleased with the verdict and relieved that the court process had come to an end.

“It has been incredibly difficult. (The victims) summoned an immense amount of courage to make these reports in the first place, and I’m just glad that we had the opportunity to support them over the last three years and achieve this outcome along with them,” he said.

Tim Murray, a former private investigator who was commissioned by the Vatican, thanked WA Police for their efforts.

“I really think it’s a good day for Western Australia because it’s very hard to bring such a powerful man like that down,” he said.

THE FALLOUT

Saunders’ conviction marks the end of another disturbing chapter for the Catholic Church.

He is the most senior Catholic to be convicted of sex offences after the high-profile conviction of Cardinal George Pell was quashed by the High Court of Australia in 2020.

“The Catholic Church has been named and shamed almost everywhere, so these things don’t come as any great surprise to us,” Clergy Abused Network co-founder Robert O’Toole told The West.

“It really is an imbalance of power; (clergymen) have enormous clout in the community, particularly bishops, archbishops and priests as well. They have canonical authority within their diocese in their parishes so that puts them in a protective species sort of category.”

He called on Saunders to be defrocked, but said he was sceptical the church would intervene given its history of failing to laicize its own clergy.

“Do I think he should be defrocked? Absolutely. Will he be defrocked? I have my doubts because we have previously tried lobbying for laicisation of clergy, including bishops, and that really hasn’t been well received in Rome,” he said.

The Vatican was contacted for comment.

In 2020, a 7NEWS investigation revealed that Saunders was being investigated for historic sex crimes, prompting Pope Francis to order an inquiry into the allegations — the first of its kind in Australian history.

On Wednesday, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe issued a statement, apologising to Saunders’ victims for their suffering.

“The sentence and the remarks made by His Honour Judge Flynn recognise the gravity and serious nature of the offences, as well as the impact on the victims and survivors of these crimes,” he said.

“To each victim and survivor who courageously revealed what they had endured, we want to say this: We are sorry for the pain and suffering that was inflicted on you.

“We are sorry that your trust was so directly and profoundly betrayed by a leader of the church.”

Saunders resigned from his position as bishop of Broome in August 2021.

He will be eligible for parole after 4.5 years when he is 81-years-old. He has not lodged an appeal.