Former Anglican Dean Graeme Lawrence guilty of abusing boy

Former Anglican Dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence has been found guilty of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy in 1991.

Newcastle District Court judge Tim Gartelmann on Friday found Lawrence guilty of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault.

Judge Gartelmann said there was enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Lawrence, 76, had committed the crimes.

The judge said the victim's evidence during the trial had a "clear ring of truth" to it while Lawrence's evidence lacked credibility.

Lawrence, the second most senior Anglican in the Newcastle diocese at the time, preyed on the boy at his home, known as the Deanery, next to Newcastle's Christ Church Cathedral.

Outlining the Crown case against Lawrence, the judge said the victim was packing up equipment at the cathedral when Lawrence invited him to a group gathering at the Deanery.

The victim, who was in Year 10 at the time, claimed there was no one else at the Deanery when Lawrence took him into a room with framed photos of naked boys on the walls.

Lawrence asked the boy if he liked the photos but the teenager said "no"'.

Lawrence then sexually assaulted him.

The victim claimed he was shaking and scared when he told Lawrence to stop but the Dean kept telling him "just relax, it's OK".

Lawrence later told the victim: "Don't bother telling anyone. You're just a boy and I'm the Dean. No one will believe you."

The victim said he fled the room, wiped his tears away and asked his mother to take him home.

He was bleeding when he showered and felt dirty no matter how long he washed himself.

He then got into his pyjamas, cried himself to sleep, went to school the next day and never told anyone about what happened until he confided in his wife in 2016.

Lawrence denied meeting the victim, said he never invited him to the Deanery and never had pictures of naked boys on the walls.

The trial was heard before Judge Gartelmann alone after the jury was discharged following an ABC media report was considered potentially prejudicial to Lawrence's chances of receiving a fair trial.

The judge agreed to continue Lawrence's bail and adjourned the case for a sentencing hearing on September 27.

Lawrence, who became the 13th Anglican Dean of Newcastle after moving from Griffith to Newcastle, was arrested after police received a referral in 2016 from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Lawrence, who received an Order of Australia in 1998 for his service to the Newcastle community, was defrocked by the Anglican Church in 2012.