NEW YORK (NY)
International Business Times
April 1, 2019
By Pritha Paul
An Australian priest was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Monday, after being convicted of raping the 12-year-old son of his dying friend.
Paul Pavlou, 59, who was studying to become a priest in 2003 when the incidents occurred, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16. He had initially claimed he could not recall committing the crimes when the victim reported Pavlou’s actions to the police 13 years later, the Age reported.
When his best friend was dying of cancer and his wife was working three jobs to support their six children, Pavlou offered “respite” to the family. While his offer seemed generous initially, he soon used the opportunity to rape his friend’s 12-year-old son on three occasions.
During his trial, the Victorian county court heard that Pavlou would frequently stay over at his friend’s family home as well as invite the boy over to his house. Every time he sexually molested the victim, he called the latter a “special child” and a “child of God.”
The victim, who was now an adult, told the court via videoconferencing recently that the priest’s actions destroyed his childhood as he cried himself to sleep for years after the incidents. “To betray your dying best friend [and his partner] … by raping their young son is one of the most evil acts I’ve ever heard of … even worse than murder,” the unidentified man told the court during the trial.
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