St Gregory’s College: Graeme Mundine avoids further jail on indecent assault charge

Graeme Mundine, the brother of politician Warren Mundine, has been sentenced over a fresh historical child-sex charge.

Former Marist brother Graeme Mundine, who served 18 months in prison from December 2018, has narrowly escaped jail on a child-sex charge after a new victim came forward late last year.

A former Marist brother who was released from jail in June on child-sex offences has narrowly escaped going back into custody on a fresh charge.

Graeme Mundine, 60, pleaded guilty to a single charge of indecent assault on a person under authority in Campbelltown Local Court in October, and was sentenced in Campbelltown District Court by Judge Andrew Colefax on Thursday.

According to facts read to the court by Judge Colefax, Mundine was a teacher at St Gregory’s College when the offending occurred in 1986.

He said Mundine had forced a student to sit a mathematics exam near his office, and sexually assaulted him when he was submitting his exam.

Graeme Mundine was a teacher at St Gregory’s College, Campbelltown (pictured), during his offending in the 1980s.

“You told him to sit on your lap, which he did,” Judge Colefax said. “You then grabbed him around the chest and pulled him towards you.

“You rubbed his thighs and grabbed hold of his penis on the outside of his trousers.

“Your face came in contact with his face and you manipulated his penis for about two minutes before releasing him.”

The court heard Mundine was one of 11 children born in Grafton who decided to enter the Marist Brothers religious order shortly after his graduation from high school.

Mundine, the brother of former National President of the Australian Labor Party, Warren Mundine, gave evidence that he was first sentenced to 18 months of periodic detention in 1989 and was stood down from teaching as a result.

He was jailed again in 2018 over more indecent assaults from the 1980s.

He accepted his conduct was a “serious breach of trust” and said he was sorry for his offending.

Graeme Mundine leaves Campbelltown Court after a court appearance earlier in the year.

“It’s a terrible thing,” he told Judge Colefax. “After being in prison and meeting people who have been abused, you can see the amount of damage it does to people outside of the physical events that happen at the time.”

Mundine broke down several times during his evidence, particularly when talking about the shame he felt about his offending.

During his judgment, Judge Colefax acknowledged Mundine had not reoffended in more than 30 years.

“He was an immature person who went straight from school to a celibate lifestyle that is unusual to most members of the community, and in that context, he committed these terrible crimes against children,” he said.

“He’s left that world, he’s grown up, and has been living in a fully functional, heterosexual marriage for almost 20 years.”

Graeme Mundine was sentenced in Campbelltown District Court on Thursday afternoon.

Judge Colefax sentenced Mundine to a three-year community corrections order with 500 hours of community service.

“If you hadn’t previously served time, I would have sentenced you to a period of imprisonment today,” he said.

“Ideally, his honour Judge O’Brien should have had this matter before him (in 2018) so he could give you an appropriate sentence for the totality of your offending.

“If I closed my eyes to all that other offending you would have gone to jail, but that ignores the denunciation you’ve already received for your wicked conduct.”

Mundine is also required to alert the court registry if he plans to change address in the next three years.