Paedophile Priest John Sidney Denham Given Extra Jail Time for Treating Nsw School As "Paedophilic Smorgasboard"

ABC News
January 23, 2015

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-23/paedophile-priest-john-sidney-denham-jail-term-extended/6043218

PHOTO: Former Catholic priest John Sidney Denham will be eligible for parole in 2028. (ABC News, file photo)

A former priest described in court as one of Australia's worst paedophiles has had his jail term extended for sexually abusing students.

John Sidney Denham, 73, has been serving a 14-year sentence for abusing 40 children, mostly at Newcastle's St Pius X College in the 1970s and early 80s.

The District Court on Friday handed down a 13-year jail term for abusing another 18 boys, with Judge Syme saying the offences "represent the most abhorrent and sadistic combination of circumstances that courts are likely to see".

"The offender operated as if he was at some paedophilic smorgasbord, entitled to abuse boys at any time or place of his choosing," Judge Syme said.

"The sheer volume of boys involved in this sexual abuse and the number of times that each child was abused by the offender is staggering, even to this court."

Some of the abuse took place after the victims had confessed to Denham and were in or near the confessional area.

Boys were also abused in classrooms when other children were present, or threatened with the cane before being abused in Denham's office.

"On many occasions the offender threatened the children with further physical harm or with exposure to the school community as a homosexual if they complained," she said.

"Most children took the threats so seriously they did not complain to anyone until many years later."

Judge Syme said many of the children who did complain were physically punished by school authorities, including by the school's late principal, who "had been told on numerous occasions of Denham's depraved behaviour, by boys and parents, yet did nothing about it".

She said it defied belief that the abuse was so widely known about and either ignored or condoned by those in authority at the school.

The ABC understands more than a dozen of Denham's victims have since committed suicide.

The concurrent nature of his sentences means Denham will spend at least 19 years in jail.

Denham, who has been in custody since 2008, will be eligible for parole in 2028.