Head monk allegedly abused children as young as four

A head monk allegedly sexually abused six young children inside his living quarters, a Buddhist temple prayer room and at Sunday school, a jury has been told.

The youngest girls were aged four and one claims she was abused four times across two Dhamma Sarana Buddhist temple sites in Melbourne until she was aged 11 or 12.

Venerable Naotunne Vijitha, now 70, faced the first day of a jury trial at Victoria's County Court on Wednesday, dressed in orange and red robes, and wearing sandals and a red beanie.

Vijitha is charged with 19 child sexual abuse offences involving six alleged victims beginning after he relocated to take up a post as head of the Dhamma Sarana temple at Springvale in 1994.

The alleged offending continued after the temple was relocated to Keysborough, in the early 2000s,