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Ex-priest David Edwin Rapson Jailed Again over Student Rapes

By Shannon Deery
NEWS.com.au
August 30, 2013

http://www.news.com.au/national-news/victoria/ex-priest-david-edwin-rapson-jailed-again-over-student-rapes/story-fnii5sms-1226707725994

David Edwin Rapson was kicked out of the church by Pope John Paul II in 2004. Picture: Norm Oorloff

A DISGRACED former priest who plied young boys with cigarettes and alcohol before assaulting and raping them has been jailed for a second time.

David Edwin Rapson's crimes were so evil he was kicked out of the church by Pope John Paul II in 2004 after years of lobbying by his Melbourne superiors.

Rapson rose to become vice-principal of Sunbury's notorious Salesian College Rupertswood despite a string of allegations being levelled at him in the 1980s.

It was there he committed many of his crimes during the 1970s and 1980s, telling a fellow priest that "God made us this way".

The 60-year-old former priest was today remanded in custody after a County Court jury found him guilty on all charges, eight counts of indecent assault and five counts of rape.

He has already served one prison term after being jailed in 1992 for abusing a 15-year-old student at the school, years after victims first complained to college leaders.

Rapson is one of eight Salesians who have been publicly accused of molesting students at the Rupertswood campus during four decades from the 1960s.

Of the eight, five have served, or are serving, jail time for their sordid child sex crimes.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been made in compensation payments to victims who have accused the order of a 40-year coverup.

It is believed more than $80,000 has been paid to victims of Rapson.

One student, who was 15 when he was molested by Rapson, told his County Court trial that he was ordered not to come back to the school after accusing Rapson of assaulting him.

Another claimed that another priest witnessed Rapson molest him in the 1970s but did not move to stop the abuse.

He told police after the priest walked in on Rapson abusing him, Rapson told the priest: "You know what we do here. God made us this way and it’s his fault."

The victim said the other priest told Rapson he had been “trying to resist it” and urged Rapson to do the same.

Another victim told police Rapson attacked him in his office in 1988.

He said he was boarding at the college when Rapson invited him to his office after “lights out” to play computer games.

He said he was given a drink that made him a “little bit dizzy” and later woke up in pain.

“I must have passed out or fallen asleep. When I woke up I was on the floor in the foetal position right next to the computer desk and felt a large amount of pain,” he said.

“Father Rapson was on his hands and knees lying over me.

“I tried to move but I couldn’t because he was on top of me and he was a big man.”

The man said Rapson raped him before he got up and fled the office.

“He yelled at me in a voice like the devil and said, 'Come back'. I was too scared and just ran all the way back to my dormitory.”

Rapson did not deny giving some children cigarettes and alcohol but denied all of the abuse allegations.

His lawyer, Shaun Ginsbourg ,said he had crossed the line in terms of socialising with children.

"But that doesn't make him a sex abuser," Mr Ginsbourg told the court.

In 2004, the Australian chapter of the Salesians was engulfed in a global scandal after it was alleged local superiors had moved priests accused of sexual assaults across international and state borders to evade authorities.

It is a claim the Salesians have persistently denied.

After starting at Rupertswood, Rapson spent a number of years at a Tasmanian Salesian school in the early 1980s where he was accused of abusing a teen.

He returned to Victoria shortly after.

Two former principals are facing criminal charges.

In February 2004 Pope John Paul II defrocked Rapson after lobbying by former Salesian head Father Ian Murdoch.

Fr Murdoch, who has since died, travelled to Rome twice to persuade the Vatican to expel Rapson.

Fr Murdoch described Rapson, who allegedly made threats from Pentridge Prison while serving his previous prison term that he had information about other Salesians who had committed crimes, as "an offender of the worst kind".

Rapson will appear for a pre-sentence plea hearing in October.

Contact: shannon.deery@news.com.au

 

 

 

 

 




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