A 77-year-old former Spiritan priest has been sentenced to four years in prison, with the final year suspended, for the indecent assault of a schoolboy in a well-known Tipperary school.

Before sentence was handed down, Clonmel Circuit Court heard the victim would never forget the panic he felt as he stood outside Henry Moloney's bedroom door, having been summoned there by the teacher, knowing what was going to happen to him inside the room.

Moloney, with an address at Kimmage Manor, a Spiritan care home, was accompanied by a Spiritan priest at today's hearing.

His victim, who cannot be named, sat at the back of the court with a family member.

Earlier this month, Moloney had been found guilty on seven counts of indecent assault in Rockwell College, where his male victim was a first-year border in 1981 and 1982.

Moloney had been his music teacher and choirmaster.

At today's hearing, Mr Justice Thomas Teehan was told that Moloney had been convicted of child sexual abuse in 2000 and 2009 and had served a 15-month custodial sentence.

The judge told Moloney that his crimes had had a devastating effect on his victim who had left Rockwell the following year and who had never prospered since save for his choice of partner.

The judge said Moloney had pleaded guilty at his previous trials but had denied today's charges.

He said it was his right to contest the charges but that the two weeks during which the trial took place had been very traumatic for his victim.

He sentenced him to four years in prison with the final year suspended on condition he return to Kimmage Manor and live under strict supervision.