AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
By JOANNE McCARTHY Aug. 1, 2013
ONE of Australia’s worst paedophile priests raped a boy with a cane at a Hunter Catholic school in 1979, smiled as he said “this is for being a cry baby”, and then caned the sobbing boy’s hands.
Father John Denham was in his 30s when he raped a 12-year-old boy across a school desk in 1977 and left him bleeding but silenced after threatening to tell the boy’s violent father.
Denham targeted boys whose families were stricken by recent tragedy, gave them alcohol and molested them.
He used the school intercom to call victims to his room, fondled boys as they read religious texts in front of class, and molested a boy as he prayed on his knees while in church.
In a Sydney court yesterday Denham, 70, said the word “guilty” 25 times to confirm another 18 victims, only three years after pleading guilty to molesting 39 boys.
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