BOSTON (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | September 30, 2005
BOSTON --A defrocked Catholic priest who already served three years in a New Hampshire prison for sexually abusing a child pleaded guilty Friday to sexually abusing five other boys, and was sentenced to eight to 11 years in prison.
Robert Burns, 56, was indicted in April on six counts of raping of a child under 16, and seven counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. He pleaded guilty to all 13 counts.
During the hearing, Burns apologized to his victims -- who were all boys age 10 and under when the abuse began -- to the people in the two Boston parishes he served and his fellow priests.
"I can't undue the harm that I've done, but I am determined to live the rest of my life with integrity," he said. "I am deeply, profoundly sorry."