AUSTRALIA
Border Mail
By Tim Barlass
Feb. 26, 2016
A 72-year-old former Sydney Catholic priest given six months to a year to live has been sentenced to two years and three weeks in jail for sexual assault against teenage boys.
Father Robert Flaherty, who committed the offences in the 1970s and 1980s was allowed to remain seated in the dock at the Downing Centre court with his walking stick in front of him as the sentence was announced.
He had previously pleaded guilty to three charges against two boys but was found guilty in a jury trial last September for two offences committed against an altar boy at the priest’s Mollymook holiday home.
Sentencing Judge Richard Cogswell, SC, said that Flaherty’s age and health together with the impact of a prison sentence must be reflected in the non-parole period.
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