AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au
By Patrick O'Neil
November 18, 2005
A PEDOPHILE priest described as evil and callous yesterday had his sentence slashed by five years and won the right to a retrial.
Michael Charles Glennon, 61, had been convicted of a series of charges, including rape, against children as young as seven from 1986 to 1991.
But the Victorian Court of Appeal ordered a retrial in one of Glennon's cases because they found the judge did not give sufficient directions to the jury and improperly questioned the solo defence witness, Glennon's cousin.
Glennon initially received a 15-year minimum jail term, but the judgment, by Justices Frank Callaway, Peter Buchanan and Geoffrey Eames, reduced the sentence to a minimum of 10 years.
He will remain in prison and his other convictions will stand.