Sex Victims Speak of Sleepless Nights and a Loss of Faith

By Dan Box
The Australian
August 25, 2012

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/sex-victims-speak-of-sleepless-nights-and-a-loss-of-faith/story-e6frg6nf-1226457719514

A PEDOPHILE priest who abused boys as young as eight in northern NSW told one of his victims that the treatment suffered at his hands "was what God wanted", a court has heard.

The priest, identified as DO for legal reasons, smiled and waved to his supporters in the public gallery of a Sydney court during his sentencing hearing yesterday, before two victims' impact statements were read out.

"I don't sleep very well at all. I wake up from nightmares of memories of the abuse," one of these read.

"(DO) stated that what he was doing - touching my body and penis with his hands and mouth - was what God wanted.

"I was bought up in a very religious family. I had a very strong, committed faith . . . I feel I have lost all my faith in God, the priests and the church."

DO is one of eight people, including six priests, charged in NSW's Hunter Valley.