The vacant Newcastle Anglican Deanery provided the ideal location for former Dean Graeme Lawrence to sexually abuse a 15-year-old boy in 1991, Newcastle District Court heard.
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Mr Lawrence and his partner Greg Goyette moved out of the Deanery, adjacent to Christ Church Cathedral, between April and November that year so that earthquake repairs could be undertaken.
Crown prosecutor Craig Leggat, SC, asserted that Mr Lawrence, who had a key to the Deanery, planned to lure his alleged victim to the building when he invited him to 'go for a walk' following a weekend youth service in Christ Church Cathedral.
"During those months [when the building was empty] the Deanery was the ideal location for a sexual assault on a Saturday or Sunday night," Mr Leggat said, while summing up the Crown case in the judge-alone trial on Monday.
"It was not occupied and there were no overlooking neighbours."
Mr Lawrence, who has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent and one of indecent assault, has repeatedly denied knowing the complainant.
Mr Leggat said the complainant, who made the allegation against Mr Lawrence in 2016, had provided "authentic, convincing and credible" evidence against Mr Lawrence.
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The complainant told the court that Mr Lawrence approached him while he was packing up band equipment following a youth service in the Cathedral at about 9pm on a Saturday or Sunday night.
He said that Mr Lawrence invited him back to the Deanery on the basis that other young people had gathered there for a party.
Upon arrival he said Mr Lawrence took him to an office-sized room where he sexually assaulted him.
Mr Leggat said it was perfectly plausible that complainant did not report the alleged assault for many years due the significant power imbalance between he and Mr Lawrence and the fact that Mr Lawrence had warned him following the alleged assault: "Don't bother telling anyone, no one will believe you. You are just a boy and I am the Dean."
Mr Leggat described Mr Lawrence, who was the second-most senior Anglican in the Newcastle diocese, as a "highly intelligent and articulate person" who chose not to answer many of the questions that were put to him.
He said many of Mr Lawrence's responses amounted to "self-serving submissions" rather than truthful answers.
Mr Leggat asserted that some of Mr Goyette's evidence was not credible because he had discussed the matters with Mr Lawrence prior to giving evidence at the trail.
