Judge instead extends sentence for priest who sexually abused 27 young boys

A pedophile priest, who was convicted and jailed for sexually abusing 27 young boys, has had his appeal for a sentence reduction rejected after complaining that he has been attacked in prison by other inmates.

After appealing the length of his sentence in an Australian court, claiming that other prisoners “hit him over the head with a loaf of bread,” the judge instead extended the length of former New South Wales Marist Brother Darcy John O’Sullivan jail term.

80-year-old O’Sullivan was jailed for six years in 2016 for 22 historic child sex offenses that took place between 1971 and 1983.

Since his original conviction, more victims have come forward with more allegations of child abuse.

O’Sullivan has always declared that he is the “true victim” and told the court he feared for his safety in prison because he had already been “assaulted.”

He accused another inmate of hitting him over the head with a loaf of bread and argued it was an indication future attacks he will face in prison.

According to the Daily Mail, the Sydney District Court Judge Kate Traill not only rejected his appeal but added another eight years to his sentence after more offenses were uncovered.

Judge Traill told the court O’Sullivan exhibited no remorse, no empathy for his victims, and “no insight into his offending,” the Newcastle Herald reported.

“(He) shows a total lack of understanding of the magnitude of his predatory offending,” she said. 

O’Sullivan pleaded guilty in 2016 to the charges of child sex crimes against 12 students from the Marist Brothers College in Hamilton and at the St Marys High School in Casino.

However, he contradicted his initial guilty plea during his most recent trial date.

“I absolutely deny to this court, to her honor, that I have ever indulged in that sort of behaviour in all of my life,” O’Sullivan told the court. 

But O’Sullivan also detailed times he had “fondled boys genitalia” inside the classroom, the school halls, and the playground.

He described his actions as being “in a kind of semi-affectionate manner to a number of my students.”

Judge Traill imposed the extra eight years on his sentence after his crimes against a further 15 students were detailed. 

O’Sullivan denied to the court that he had any sexual attraction to boys and said he gained no sexual gratification from his actions. 

“I know and understand my own sexuality.

“I know when I’ve been physically attracted to women.

“I know when I’ve been in love with women.

“That doesn’t make me someone as you describe,” he said. 

O’Sullivan did not garner sympathy from Judge Traill for being hit in the head with a loaf of bread, an incident she described as “relatively minor.”

After the court ruling, the Facebook page for the Marist Brothers College in Hamilton posted a status condemning their abuse.

“To the brothers of Hamilton Marist Brothers high school, I have a question … ‘Why’,” the status read.

“Why were some (of) you such b******* to us kids and such hypocrites in what you were supposed to be standing for in the Catholic Church system?”