A former priest and school dean has admitted sexually abusing young people at a leading Christchurch boys’ college.

Rowan Maxwell Donoghue, 69, worked at St Bede’s College as a priest and dean of boarders.

The offending took place between 1996 and 2000 while he was working at the school, and related to four students.

Today, Donoghue appeared in the Christchurch District Court on six charges, including indecent assault on a boy aged 12-16, indecent assault on a boy 16 and over, and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.

He was remanded in custody.

Donoghue pleaded guilty to the charges in October last year, but the pleas had been suppressed.

The suppression order was lifted today when a number of other charges were dismissed.

Rowan Donoghue is due to be sentenced in May.

A number of his victims from around the country were in court this morning.

The court heard his victims had indicated a “firm no” to restorative justice.

Judge Jane Farish set a sentencing date for May 13.

Donoghue first appeared in the Christchurch District Court in October 2024.

His application for name suppression was declined, but he filed an appeal in the High Court, meaning his details remained secret.

The offending was revealed when he abandoned the appeal in February last year and pleaded not guilty.

St Bede’s College, with about 800 students, is an all-boys integrated Roman Catholic day and boarding school in Papanui, Christchurch.

The college says it is the oldest Catholic boys’ school in the South Island and the only one to cater to boarders and day boys.

Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the NZ Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.