Former Marylands School brother, Rodger William Moloney, will give evidence in his defence at his trial on 28 charges of sexual abuse of boys at the school in the 1970s.
The jury was told this by defence counsel Greg King as the trial wrapped up its seventh day in the High Court at Christchurch this afternoon, Christchurch Court News website reports.
The Crown has two or possibly three witnesses to give evidence tomorrow morning before it closes its case against the 71-year-old, who was prior of the Order of St John of God, which ran the school.
When Justice Graham Panckhurst discussed progress in the trial, with the jury present, crown prosecutor Chris Lange indicated that he expected the Crown to finish on Thursday morning. That is expected to be followed by a period of legal argument.
Mr King then took the unusual step of announcing during the crown case that the accused would give evidence, and was likely to be the only defence witness.
