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	Priest's Fury at Church Cash Splash on Sex Creep By Aleks Devic Geelong Advertiser June 1, 2011 http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2011/06/01/261231_news.html GEELONG'S top Catholic priest says the church should stop splashing cash on defending serial sex creeps and use the money to compensate victims who are left short-changed. His call comes as it was revealed a former teacher and Christian brother at Geelong's St Joseph's College admitted this week to sexually abusing a boy as part of his 20-year mistreatment of children that so far involves 11 victims. The pursuit to bring the 70-year-old Robert Charles Best to justice has spanned decades and the legal bill, funded by the Christian Brothers, has mounted with top barristers defending the serial paedophile. Taxpayers have also forked out with the pervert fighting his charges and causing them to mount a costly trial. St Mary's Basilica Fr Kevin Dillon said the Christian Brothers should be focused on repairing the damage to the victims because most continued to suffer and some did not have money to put food on the table because the abuse affected their work life. "Everyone is entitled to a fair trial but if someone is a serial sexual offender there should be a point where enough is enough and we start looking after people whose lives have been destroyed," he said. "We are talking about about kids who have been violated in places of trust and in a school setting, that should be beyond belief but sadly it isn't. "For goodness sake what is happening here with this extraordinary money something is seriously wrong with all this. Lives have been wrecked with such an abysmal betrayal of trust." Fr Dillon said he was staggered to read how much money was spent to defend Best. "To me within the context of the compensation, the victims should have as much funds dedicated to them as used in the defence," he said. Best pleaded guilty this week in the County Court to six sex abuse-related charges of three boys aged between 11 and 12. His admissions averted the need for a further five trials he was due to face. He had previously been convicted on 21 charges after pleading not guilty in six trials over the past year. In all, Best has been convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, 27 charges for sex crimes between 1969 and 1988. Church child abuse victims advocate Bernard Barrett, from Broken Rites, accused the church of double standards in sexual misconduct cases because victims received far less in compensation than spent on the legal costs. "The Christian Brothers have spent mega-dollars on defending Brother Best," he said.
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