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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Christchurch, New Zealand · 2026

New Zealand: former priest jailed for abusing boarding students at a Catholic college

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

priest at a Catholic boarding college

Organization

St Bede's College, Christchurch

Spiritual nexus

The victims were boarders at a Catholic school where the defendant served as priest, living under his combined religious and in loco parentis authority.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2026-01-01 · guilty plea and sentence

    Christchurch District Court, New Zealand. Former St Bede's College priest Rowan Donoghue was sentenced to seven years and eight months after admitting six charges of indecent assault and sexual violation involving four boys who boarded at the school between 1996 and 2000.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • in loco parentis authority over boarders living at the school

Primary record

Sources

national public broadcaster sentencing report 'Former St Bede's College priest Rowan Donoghue jailed for sexual abuse of boys', RNZ (2026).

New Zealand's public broadcaster reports the guilty pleas, the charges, and the sentence imposed.

Related record

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