AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
Catholic Brother Bernard Hartman jailed for three years over sex attacks on children in 1970s and 1980s
PADRAIC MURPHY HERALD SUN JULY 24, 2015
THE Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne knew a Marianist brother was a sexual predator of children decades ago but it was not until today his victims finally saw him jailed.
In another scandalous blow to the church, Brother Bernard Hartman was jailed for three years, with one year suspended, for sustained sexual attacks on two young girls aged under 11 in the 1970s and a male student in the early 1980s.
County Court Judge James Parrish described the offending as “blatant” and a grave breach of Hartman’s position as a teacher at St Paul’s College in Altona North.
The decades-long delay in bringing Hartman to justice was used by him to argue for a reduced sentence because he had lived under the burden of his crimes for more than 40 years.
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