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Retired Victorian Priest Peter Waters Jailed for Abuse of Five Boys

By Marnie Banger
Australian Associated Press via 7news.com
September 25, 2019

https://7news.com.au/news/court-justice/retired-victorian-priest-jailed-over-abuse-c-470703

A retired Victorian priest will spend the next 14 months behind bars for molesting five boys decades ago in what has been branded a "monumental breach of trust".

Peter Waters, 74, abused the boys in the 1970s and '80s, sometimes after climbing into their beds.

Waters began grooming one boy after he entered the confessional booth to reveal the Catholic sin of masturbation.

When the boy stayed overnight with the priest during the 1980s, Waters molested him as he pretended to sleep.

The victim's brother suffered similar abuse, waking to Waters entering his bed after socialising together, consuming alcohol and cigarettes.

Former central Victorian priest Peter Waters leaves an earlier hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court. Credit: David Crosling/AAP

In another case, Waters sometimes carried out a "goodnight routine" with a boy whose family was involved in a parish where he worked in the early 1980s.

Initially, it involved a sign of the cross with a kiss on the forehead or cheek but soon it included a kiss on the lips and stroking of the chest.

When the boy later accompanied Waters on a trip to Europe, aged about 19, he woke one night to find the priest's hands on his genitals

Confusion and betrayal

Sentencing Waters on Wednesday, Judge Scott Johns QC said the details of each case showed how the clergyman had abused the trust put in him by parents and the boys who considered him a mentor.

"The context demonstrates the monumental breach of trust involved in your offending," Judge Scott said.

"You had access to these boys' lives that your role as a priest and the relative innocence of the times allowed.

"The confusion and sense of betrayal for each of them when you breached their trust has been devastating for them."

The judge acknowledged there was a "tension" between Waters' offending and the good deeds he performed as a priest but in some cases Waters' good reputation facilitated the crimes.

In deciding his punishment, Waters' age and health issues were accounted but the judge stressed the need to ward others against following in his footsteps.

He sentenced Waters to 36 months of imprisonment, suspending 22 months of the term for two years, leaving him to spend the next 14 months in jail.

From a dock at the back of the courtroom, Waters appeared relatively emotionless while he learnt his fate through headphones.

A jury in August found Waters guilty of six counts of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency with a child under 16.

The jury also acquitted him of four counts of indecent assault on a female and one count of carnal knowledge of a girl between 10 and 16.

On the morning a second trial was to begin, Waters confessed to one count of indecent assault of a male and two counts of indecent assault.

 

 

 

 

 




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