Jail for Catholic Brother over Vic Abuse

Sky News
July 24, 2015

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/local/melbourne/2015/07/24/jail-for-catholic-brother-over-vic-abuse.html

An American Catholic brother who abused two little girls in Melbourne after gaining their parents' trust will spend the next two years behind bars.

Marianist Brother Bernard Joseph Hartman, now 75, was invited into family homes for dinner while he was a teacher and counsellor at the then-St Paul's College in the 1970s.

He sexually abused two little girls, younger siblings of students, at their homes in the mid to late 1970s.

One girl, aged under 10, was assaulted after Hartman drew pictures with her.

Hartman once used a turkey baster filled with liquid to violate the other girl.

"You have breached the trust of those young girls with blatant offending in their homes which ... allowed little avenue for retreat," Victorian County Court Judge James Parrish said as he sentenced Hartman on Friday.

One of the victims would vomit when Hartman came over, and still could not trust anyone.

The court heard Hartman, who pleaded guilty to four counts of indecently assaulting the girls, was sorry for the negative impact he had on their lives.

A jury in May also found Hartman guilty of assaulting a male student in 1981-82, but Hartman continues to deny touching the teenage boy and hitting him as he tried to resist.

The abuse caused the male victim to lose his faith and he avoided weddings and funerals because he felt anxious when religion was mentioned, the court heard.

Hartman, who was suspended from teaching in 1997 when allegations surfaced, wrote back to one of his victims in 1999 and said he knew he had hurt her.

He was extradited from the US to Australia in 2013 to face charges.

Hartman, who had received extensive sex offender and psychological rehabilitation, was sentenced to three years in prison with one year suspended.

The maximum jail term has increased since Hartman abused the children, but his sentence had to align with the rate during the 1970s and 1980s, which was five years.