Vic priest to be sentenced for sex abuse

9 News
August 07, 2017

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/08/07/03/31/vic-priest-to-be-sentenced-for-sex-abuse

A Victorian priest who repeatedly molested boys at Victoria's notorious Rupertswood boarding school in the 1970s and 1980s has been jailed for two years.

Frank Peter De Dood will spend at least 20 months behind bars after he was sentenced on Monday for indecently assaulting five boys between 1978 and 1983.

The 64-year-old had pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to six counts of indecent assault.

Dozens of students were abused by a number of priests at Salesian College Rupertswood in Sunbury in the 1970s and '80s.

De Dood's victims were aged 11 to 16 when they were molested at Rupertswood and at a theological residence next to the college's Chadstone campus.

One remembers wearing his altar boy robe when molested, while another woke to find the priest assaulting him.

De Dood molested the student as he slept in a dorm at Rupertswood, the court was told.

"As supervisor of this dormitory you sought out a boy asleep in bed in that dormitory, apparently for your own sexual gratification," Judge Susan Cohen said.

"I regard this incident as the most crude abuse of your role."

After molesting a 14-year-old boy, De Dood told the student that no one would believe him if he told anyone about the abuse, and if he did, he would be expelled.

"You recognised at the time that what you had done was wrong, and you were further abusing your power over this student to try to avoid your wrongdoing being discovered," Judge Cohen said.

She noted that De Dood has recently expressed contrition over his actions.

"All these incidents involved serious breaches of trust," the judge said.

"As a priest you carried a level of respect and authority with each of these boys and their families."

De Dood initially denied the abuse when charged in 2014 before he decided to change his plea during a pre-trial hearing in November 2016.

He will remain a priest until laicised, a process which can begin after Monday's sentence.

As a result of his crimes De Dood will be registered as a serious sex offender and be subject to reporting conditions for the rest of his life.

The Salesians of Don Bosco order in December made a public apology at the Sunbury school for the historical abuse committed by members of its congregation.