Paedophile priest Robert Claffey has admitted to the abuse of 2 more children, His lawyer says he shouldn’t serve more time as he was “vilified” for his crimes.

Robert Claffey is one of the Ballarat paedophile priests. In 2016 he was convicted of sexually abusing 12 children in his care as a priest in the Ballarat diocese, of the 12 victims in that case, seven lived in Ballarat when they were abused. Others were abused by Claffey while he was a Catholic priest at Warrnambool, Portland, Apollo Bay and Ecklin South between 1970 and 1992. Ten victims were male and two female of ages ranging from six years to 16.

Claffey pleaded guilty to one count of buggery, six counts of indecent assault on a male person, 10 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual penetration of a person aged between 10 and 16

For this he is currently serving an 18-year, 4 month sentence with a minimum of 13 years and 4 months non-parole period.
Now he has admitted to preying upon yet another 2 children.

One of the latest victims was between 6 and 7 years old and the other was between 12 and 15 years old. He sexually abused both of these children while he was a parish priest in Ballarat in the 1980’s, being bounced around to avoid prosecution.

This behaviour is the M.O of the Catholic church and is the exact reason paedophiles were allowed to thrive within it’s ranks. As soon as a complaint was made against one of the paedophiles who chose to pretend to be servants of God, the church rather than seek justice for the victims, moved the paedophile from diocese to diocese allowing them to leave in their wake many more sexually abused and psychologically damaged children who have spent the rest of their lives trying to recover what these evil men took from them.

Prosecutors have called for a lengthier non-parole period for Claffey as his victim count rises. But his lawyer appealed for his release date to remain the same because he’s already been “hunted” by the media and “vilified” by the community after being moved from parish to parish by the Catholic Church while he offended.

Perhaps Mr Claffey should have thought about that before he sexually abused 14 children. If he was so worried about being “vilified” then maybe he shouldn’t have sexually abused innocent children in his care.

Claffey was a priest at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Wendouree and abused his first victim while providing counselling to the boy in his bedroom. He kissed, touched and abused the boy.

So he betrays the trust of a child and his family and is worried about being called bad names. Perhaps before destroying any hope that young child had of ever being able to trust again, you could have thought about the damage you were doing to all the innocent children, the guilt and shame you left them with and walked away.

But of course it gets worse, it always gets worse. He then used religion to ensure the boy’s compliance, telling the teen that their talks were secret – like confession – and it would be a sin to tell anyone. So not only do the boys think men in power are dangerous but now they must question if God hates them, because if he didn’t why would his servant rape them, abuse and molest them and then tell them that they would be committing a sin against God if they told anyone.

Claffey’s lawyer Alan Hands said there was a degree of persistence about his client’s offending, and that this abuse occurred in the middle of a series of crimes for which he is currently serving a minimum 13-year sentence. He’ll be 89 before he’s first eligible for release and is a “different man” now to what he was then, Mr Hands said.

While prosecutors want more time added to Claffey’s non-parole period, Mr Hands argued against that because the priest had been “hunted” from parish to parish for years because people knew what he’d been doing.

Everyone knew in the western district Mr Claffey was being moved from diocese to diocese.

Defence lawyer Alan Hands.
“He had to live with that.”

Alan Hands, seriously ! IF he was being vilified and If he was being hunted as you say then HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN !
He was sexually abusing children in his care, children he was trusted to counsel. He should have been “vilified” for his pathetic actions and “hunted,” because he didn’t stop, he chose to continue a

Paedophile priest Robert Claffey has admitted to the abuse of 2 more children, His lawyer says he shouldn’t serve more time as he was “vilified” for his crimes.

Robert Claffey is one of the Ballarat paedophile priests. In 2016 he was convicted of sexually abusing 12 children in his care as a priest in the Ballarat diocese, of the 12 victims in that case, seven lived in Ballarat when they were abused. Others were abused by Claffey while he was a Catholic priest at Warrnambool, Portland, Apollo Bay and Ecklin South between 1970 and 1992. Ten victims were male and two female of ages ranging from six years to 16.

Claffey pleaded guilty to one count of buggery, six counts of indecent assault on a male person, 10 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual penetration of a person aged between 10 and 16

For this he is currently serving an 18-year, 4 month sentence with a minimum of 13 years and 4 months non-parole period.
Now he has admitted to preying upon yet another 2 children.

One of the latest victims was between 6 and 7 years old and the other was between 12 and 15 years old. He sexually abused both of these children while he was a parish priest in Ballarat in the 1980’s, being bounced around to avoid prosecution.

This behaviour is the M.O of the Catholic church and is the exact reason paedophiles were allowed to thrive within it’s ranks. As soon as a complaint was made against one of the paedophiles who chose to pretend to be servants of God, the church rather than seek justice for the victims, moved the paedophile from diocese to diocese allowing them to leave in their wake many more sexually abused and psychologically damaged children who have spent the rest of their lives trying to recover what these evil men took from them.

Prosecutors have called for a lengthier non-parole period for Claffey as his victim count rises. But his lawyer appealed for his release date to remain the same because he’s already been “hunted” by the media and “vilified” by the community after being moved from parish to parish by the Catholic Church while he offended.

Perhaps Mr Claffey should have thought about that before he sexually abused 14 children. If he was so worried about being “vilified” then maybe he shouldn’t have sexually abused innocent children in his care.

Claffey was a priest at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Wendouree and abused his first victim while providing counselling to the boy in his bedroom. He kissed, touched and abused the boy.

So he betrays the trust of a child and his family and is worried about being called bad names. Perhaps before destroying any hope that young child had of ever being able to trust again, you could have thought about the damage you were doing to all the innocent children, the guilt and shame you left them with and walked away.

But of course it gets worse, it always gets worse. He then used religion to ensure the boy’s compliance, telling the teen that their talks were secret – like confession – and it would be a sin to tell anyone. So not only do the boys think men in power are dangerous but now they must question if God hates them, because if he didn’t why would his servant rape them, abuse and molest them and then tell them that they would be committing a sin against God if they told anyone.

Claffey’s lawyer Alan Hands said there was a degree of persistence about his client’s offending, and that this abuse occurred in the middle of a series of crimes for which he is currently serving a minimum 13-year sentence. He’ll be 89 before he’s first eligible for release and is a “different man” now to what he was then, Mr Hands said.

While prosecutors want more time added to Claffey’s non-parole period, Mr Hands argued against that because the priest had been “hunted” from parish to parish for years because people knew what he’d been doing.

Everyone knew in the western district Mr Claffey was being moved from diocese to diocese.

Defence lawyer Alan Hands.
“He had to live with that.”

Alan Hands, seriously ! IF he was being vilified and If he was being hunted as you say then HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN !
He was sexually abusing children in his care, children he was trusted to counsel. He should have been “vilified” for his pathetic actions and “hunted,” because he didn’t stop, he chose to continue abusing innocent children everywhere he went !
He should be downright ashamed for what he has done to those 14 children ! We are not talking about a momentary lapse in judgement, we are talking about decades of deliberate, predatory behaviour ! 14 children, that we know about, whose lives were forever changed because of this evil wolf in sheeps clothing.

He should spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Thankfully County Court Judge Paul Higham baulked at the suggestion that because he was “hunted” he should do no more time. “Had the response of those above him been different, he might have been prosecuted then,” the judge pointed out.

EXACTLY JUDGE HIGHAM ! If this abhorrent monster was arrested and prosecuted when he first sexually abused a child LIKE HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN, then perhaps another 13 children might have been spared the sick sexual abuse of this paedophile priest.
As it stands he was moved away to avoid prosecution and was able to get his grubby hands on more and more children.

As for Adam Hands’s claim that Claffey is a “different person” after undergoing counselling, sorry Mr Hands, child abusers can NOT be rehabilitated they just become better at avoiding detection. Claffey is a predator and that can never be changed, it is his very nature !

Paedophile priests of Ballarat have haunted that town for decades ! The awesome crew at Ballarat So Sad are a local group fighting back against the paedophile priests and doing great work in bringing them to justice and supporting survivors.

Robert Claffey you were in a position of great trust ! You were employed to bring comfort and faith, to spread Gods word instead you betrayed the trust placed in you in the very worst way imaginable. You preyed upon and sexually abused innocent children, and then you used the children’s faith against them, all to keep your disgusting sexual abuse a secret and for that your file should read “never to be released”.

#FACAA #ProudFACAA #RobertClaffey #VIC #VICPOL #VICPolice #Ballarat #BallaratSoSad #GuardiansOfTheInnocent #VoiceForTheVoiceless #HopeForTheHopeless #ChildrensChampions #EndingChildAbuse #RaisingAwareness #ChangingLives #HealingSurvivors #ChangingLaws #Legal #Law #LegalReform #JuliasJustice #PhoenixProgram #WeWillFight #StandUp #FromHellWeRise #JamiesGuardians #NeverGonnaStop

https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/6262471/ballarat-paedophile-priest-admits-more-crimes-argues-for-no-additional-time/