Alleged Paedophile David Edwin Rapson to Be Freed after Court Ruling

By Shannon Deery
Herald Sun
August 7, 2014

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/alleged-paedophile-david-edwin-rapson-to-be-freed-after-court-ruling/story-fni0fee2-1227015597907?nk=9bd9d0e669a011da00cfb4b48d60c50f

David Edwin Rapson could be freed as early as today.

A PRIEST accused of being one of the state's worst paedophiles could be freed from prison today after serving just 11 months of a 13-year sentence.

The move is believed to have devastated many of David Edwin Rapson's alleged victims who fought for more than 25 to bring him to justice.

The former priest was jailed last year after a County Court jury found him guilty of eight counts of indecent assault and five counts of rape of young boys.

But the convictions were today quashed by the Court of Appeal after a concession by the Office of Public Prosecutions that Rapson, 61, should have faced several trials.

Rapson had been convicted of eight counts of indecent assault and five counts of rape of young boys.

They admitted because of the varying nature of Rapson's alleged offending it was unfair for all the matters to be determined by a single jury. He will now face retrials in the County Court.

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

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

Prosecutors claimed the offending saw him ply young male students with cigarettes and alcohol before assaulting and raping them.

One 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.

Pope John Paul II defrocked Rapson after allegations about alleged offending came to light.

Contact: shannon.deery@news.com.au