SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
Channel Nine News
July 18, 2019
A Victorian pedophile priest and repeat offender is to discover on Thursday whether he will spend extra time in prison after confessing to more historical child sex crimes.
Robert Claffey, 76 is already serving a minimum of 13 years and four months’ jail for sexually abusing 12 children aged as young as five, between 1969 and 1992.
But last week he admitted he abused another two boys in Ballarat during the 1980s, following
fresh allegations.
Prosecutors want Claffey to have time added to his non-parole jail term.
Last week, Claffey’s lawyer Alan Hands asked County Court Judge Paul Higham to consider that Claffey had already been “vilified” by the media and community, and shouldered the burden of his offending for years.
But the judge wasn’t convinced the pedophile was vilified or burdened by guilt, adding “being held accountable for your actions is not vilification”.
The Catholic Church became aware of Claffey’s behaviour during the 1980s but moved him “parish to parish” throughout western Victoria.
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