Retired Priest Jailed

By Ashleigh Brown
3AW
August 7, 2014

http://www.3aw.com.au/blogs/3aw-news-blog/retired-priest-jailed/20140807-3daet.html

A former priest has been jailed for two years for the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy in Kew over 40 years ago.

88-year-old James Henry Scannell will spend at least 12 months behind bars before being eligible for parole.

The former Catholic priest was found guilty in July of sexually assaulting the altar boy, who had gone to the priest's home in Kew between 1970 and 1972, to do odd jobs for pocket money.

After the abuse, Scannell made the 12-year-old confess his sins and ordered him not to speak of what happened, before the boy walked home crying.

In sentencing Judge David Parson said Scannell, who continues to deny the assault, had abused the trust place in him in the most shocking way.