A former Warrnambool priest facing historic indecent assault charges will appear in the County Court next week. Robert Claffey will be arraigned at Geelong on Tuesday before a date is set down for a plea hearing. Judge Felicity Hampel on Friday said the benefit of complainants not having to give evidence is paramount. Mr Claffey served as a priest in the 1970s in Terang, Warrnambool and Apollo Bay before being moved to Ballarat in the ‘80s and then serving as an assistant priest at Portland in the early ‘90s.