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	Pedophile Priest Robert Best Jailed Weekly Times Now August 8, 2011 http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2011/08/08/365575_latest-news.html PEDOPHILE rapist Christian Brother Robert Best has been jailed for 14 years and nine months after pleading guilty to abusing 11 Victorian boys. Best, 70, pleaded guilty in May to 27 sexual assaults of boys at schools he taught at between 1969 and 1988. Best initially contested the charges, with his defence funded by the Catholic Church. The offences occurred at St Leo's Christian Brothers College at Box Hill, St Joseph's College in Geelong and St Alipius primary school at Ballarat where, as the principal, raped a nine-year-old student. Sentencing Best in the Victorian County Court today, Judge Roy Punshon ordered he serve 11 years and three months in jail before he is eligible for parole. As he was led from the dock, woman yelled names. Another man said "suck it up" and a woman called him a maggot as Judge Punshon called for decorum in the courtroom. Judge Punshon said the offending had caused much misery. "You have caused a great deal of human damage and misery," he told Best. He said the victim impact statements were "a salutary and powerful reminder of the devastating and long-lasting effect that sexual offending can have". Judge Punshon said Best's offending was a grave breach of trust due to his role as a teacher and spiritual guide. "Because of your power and position of authority, victims who were young and immature commonly felt powerless and unable to complain, either at all or effectively," he said. "Every one of your victims was a vulnerable student." Judge Punshon said Best was still a Christian Brother and had not sought to leave the order, nor was he told to do so. He said Best's prospects of rehabilitation were uncertain and urged him to take part in a program for sexual offenders while in prison. He has been registered as a serious sexual offender. Since 1996, six juries have convicted Best of sexual assaults against young boys. He is already in jail serving four separate terms for indecent assaults against boys at his schools.
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