AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Dan Box
From:The Australian
August 25, 2012
A PEDOPHILE priest who abused boys as young as eight in northern NSW told one of his victims that the treatment suffered at his hands “was what God wanted”, a court has heard.
The priest, identified as DO for legal reasons, smiled and waved to his supporters in the public gallery of a Sydney court during his sentencing hearing yesterday, before two victims’ impact statements were read out.
“I don’t sleep very well at all. I wake up from nightmares of memories of the abuse,” one of these read.
“(DO) stated that what he was doing – touching my body and penis with his hands and mouth – was what God wanted.
“I was bought up in a very religious family. I had a very strong, committed faith . . . I feel I have lost all my faith in God, the priests and the church.”
DO is one of eight people, including six priests, charged in NSW’s Hunter Valley.
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