FORMER Anglican Dean of Newcastle Graeme Russell Lawrence will face a trial in Newcastle District Court on charges he indecently and sexually abused a 15-year-old boy in the Hunter in 1991.
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Mr Lawrence was represented by solicitor John Anthony in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday when he was committed for trial on charges of aggravated indecent assault on a victim under the age of 16 and aggravated sexual assault.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew two other allegations of aggravated sexual assault on a victim under the age of 16.
Mr Lawrence, 75, of Kotara, will appear in Newcastle District Court on May 24 to get a trial date.
Mr Lawrence’s arrest last year came after a referral in 2016 from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Mr Lawrence, who was defrocked in 2012, had denied child sex allegations during questioning at the royal commission public hearing in Newcastle.
He is accused of indecently and sexually assaulting the boy between April 1, 1991 and December 31, 1991.
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