Vijitha Naotunne, 68, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday wearing conventional orange robes, after being charged with 13 offences courting again to the mid-Nineties.
He is the chief incumbent on the Dhamma Sarana Sri Lankan Buddhist temple, in Melbourne’s southeast, and has run a Sunday faculty attended by a whole lot of kids.
Naotunne was charged by Sexual Crimes Squad detectives on Wednesday with 13 offences, together with sexual penetration of a kid underneath 16 years and indecent act with a baby underneath 16.
Police will allege he sexually abused three little one victims between 1996 and 2004, whom he met by way of his work at temples in Springvale and Keysborough.
Naotunne allegedly used faculty objects, together with a pink eraser and a transparent plastic ruler, to commit a few of the abuse, court docket paperwork said.
He was silent as he sat behind his lawyer for the transient listening to, the place new court docket dates have been set for the matter.
Naotunne, who’s but to enter a plea, was requested to face by the Justice of the Peace as she prolonged his bail till his subsequent court docket look in November.
He arrived in Australia in 1993 and served as resident monk at a Springvale temple, earlier than shifting to the Keysborough temple in 2001, in keeping with Dhammma Sarana’s web site.
Naotunne offers common Buddhist companies on the temple, together with “a very successful Sunday School”, which is attended by greater than 300 youngsters.
“His rapport and popularity with children has been exceptionally noteworthy,” the web site mentioned.
He has obtained various awards over time for his service, together with Chief Sanghanayaka for Australia by the Ramanna Nikaya, a significant Buddhist order in Sri Lanka.
Naotunne, who coated his robes with a trench coat and wore an orange beanie as he exited court docket, will return for a committal point out on November 10.
Source: www.9news.com.au
