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	Ex-Priest Gets Nine Months Jail for Assault Herald Sun August 22, 2011 http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/ex-priest-gets-nine-months-jail-for-assault/story-e6frf7jx-1226119855899 A CATHOLIC priest who sexually assaulted a 12-year-old student at a Victorian school later attended the boy's wedding and offered him and his wife a blessing. Michael Scott Aulsebrook, 55, who pleaded guilty to assaulting the boy on five occasions from May to August in 1983, will serve only nine months' jail for his crimes. Aulsebrook, against whom a separate complaint of sexual abuse was made in 1993, was sentenced in relation to three "representative" charges. Judge Tim Wood said Aulsebrook, then a brother in the Salesian order, groomed his year 7 victim for several weeks before luring him into his bedroom after lights out in the school dormitory. He would then sit the boy on his knee and fondle his genitals as they listened to the radio or watched television. Judge Wood said Aulsebrook would give a secret signal when he wanted the boy to join him in his bedroom, which adjoined the dormitory at the Rupertswood school at Sunbury. On two occasions he also attempted to kiss the boy and on others he lay on top of him after removing his victim's pants. Aulsebrook met his victim on the boy's first day at the school, when the child's mother introduced them and told her son if he had any problems he should take them to "Brother Michael". In the next few months Aulsebrook groomed the boy, buying him treats from the school tuck shop and spending lunch and recess breaks with him. The first assault occurred when the boy and three classmates were ordered to stand outside Aulsebrook's room over a disciplinary matter. After dealing with the others, Aulsebrook invited the boy to sit on his knee and attempted to indecently fondle him until the boy hastily left the room in fright. The next day he told the boy everything was alright, later telling him their meetings were secret and that he shouldn't tell anyone. In his sentencing, Judge Wood said Aulsebrook, who was ordained as a priest in 1987, had admitted another complaint of sexual abuse had been made against him in 1993, but no criminal prosecution had occurred. After that complaint, the Salesian order referred Aulsebrook to a church counselling service. Three years later he transferred to St Marks College in Port Pirie, South Australia, where he served as school principal until 2003. In the years after the assaults in Victoria he maintained contact with his victim's family and even attended the victim's wedding where he blessed the couple's rings. Judge Wood said Aulsebrook would also meet the man and his wife socially until the complaint was made against him and he confessed to a fellow priest. The church paid out a settlement to the victim in 2004 by which time Aulsebrook had resigned from the priesthood and was working as a public servant in Canberra. Judge Wood sentenced Aulsebrook to a total of two years' jail with 15 months wholly suspended
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