Former Catholic priest, 75, jailed for just four months after forcing a Year 4 student to fondle him by threatening that she would go to hell

By Daniel Peters
Daily Mail
May 23, 2017

https://goo.gl/XwaeI4

A predator Catholic priest who fondled an eight-year-old girl in 1974 will spend just four months behind bars after pleading guilty to four counts of indecent assault

The woman, now an adult, told police that at the time she believed priests were the closest beings to God and 'you must do as they say'. Pictured is a Capulchin church in Melbourne

The victim said Colbourne told her she had to fondle him because she was a 'good girl who wants to go to heaven with your mummy and daddy', the court heard

A predator Catholic priest who fondled an eight-year-old girl in 1974 will spend just four months behind bars after pleading guilty to the historic sexual abuse offences.

Friar Anthony Colbourne, now aged 75, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court on Tuesday to indecently assaulting the girl on four separate occasions in the presbytery and his office.  

In a police statement, the victim said Colbourne told her she had to fondle him because she was a 'good girl who wants to go to heaven with your mummy and daddy'.

Colbourne was sentenced to 18 months in prison, to be suspended after he has served four months behind bars. 

The woman, now an adult, told police that at the time she believed priests were the closest beings to God and 'you must do as they say,' the Courier-Mail reported.

Colbourne is a member the Capuchin Friars, a historic Catholic Church order whose followers wear brown monk-like robes. 

Provincial Minister Friar Gary Devery told Daily Mail Australia he 'welcomed the custodial sentence for the heinous crimes (Colbourne) committed against the person when she was a child.'

Fr Devery said Colbourne was a former priest who was laicised over a year ago, but was supported by the church and living in a Capulchin friary in Melbourne for the duration of the court case.

'When he departed from the congregation and priesthood I judged it better to allow him to rent a room in a little cottage we have at the back of our property in Melbourne,' he said in a statement.

'It is reasonably isolated from other suburban houses and it was within walking distance to the police station to which he had to regularly report after his arrest.

'I judged it safer in terms of child protection that he was not living in close proximity to other houses. The rental agreement has now ceased.'