St Stanislaus chaplain targeted homesick boys for abuse, court hears
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Version 0 of 1. Former priest Brian Spillane took advantage of homesick young boarding school students, then used emotional blackmail to ensure his victims kept quiet, a court has heard. The paedophile told the boys no one would believe them if they spoke out – even telling one victim the news would have a serious effect on his ill mother’s health, crown prosecutor Elizabeth Wilkins SC told the New South Wales district court on Friday. “All sorts of emotional blackmail was used,” Wilkins told the court. The 73-year-old former chaplain at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst is facing sentence for sex offences committed against 21 victims in the 1970s and 1980s. Spillane is already serving a minimum 11-year sentence for previous convictions. Wilkins told the court many of the predator’s victims in the latest case had been vulnerable and depended on the chaplain. They were at an age where homesickness was prevalent. “That was a major breach of trust,” she told the court. Spillane was convicted of 18 offences, mostly sexual or indecent assaults, following two trials last year. Six of the assaults were committed on boys under 16. The crimes ranged from kissing boys on the cheek, to grabbing one victim’s penis through his pyjamas, to having anal sex with another. In the dock the prisoner showed no visible emotion and sat turned away from the handful of former St Stanislaus students who were present with family members. In harrowing victim impact statements they told of the years of hell they had endured as a result of the abuse, including psychological problems and self-medication with drugs and alcohol. “I’ve had to watch the perpetrator not show an ounce of remorse, not admit to anything,” one man said. “What happened to me will haunt me for the rest of my days.” Defence barrister Tom Warr said some of the assaults were in the lower range of seriousness and were “one-off” events for certain victims. But Judge Robyn Tupman said Spillane’s behaviour was part of a course of paedophilic conduct towards young children in his care. She is due to pass sentence on 16 February. |