AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
December 20, 2013
Paul Bibby
Court Reporter
A prominent Sydney Catholic priest who sexually assaulted young girls from his parishes on multiple ocassions during a 40-year career, has been sentenced to at least four years’ jail, with a judge describing his acts as a “flagrant and gross breach of trust” against those he had power over.
One of Father Finian Egan’s victims wept quietly as the 78-year-old was sentenced to a maximum of eight years jail with a non-patole period of four years in the Downing Centre District Court on Friday, while another expressed elation at the result.
Earlier this year the 40-year church veteran was found guilty of seven counts of indecent assault and one count of rape in relation to attacks on girls aged 10 to 17 in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Many of the attacks occurred on church grounds against girls whose families the priest had befriended.
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