The Catholic order of the former priest, jailed today for sexually abusing boys at Christchurch's Marylands Special School, says it will supervise him for the rest of his life after he is deported back to Australia. Rodger William Moloney, now 73 and in ill health, was jailed for two years nine months by Justice Graham Panckhurst in the High Court at Christchurch today. He will be deported after his sentence.
Moloney was found guilty at a trial in June on three charges of indecently assaulting boys under 16 and four of inducing them to do indecent acts.
He was acquitted of 16 other similar offences.
The head of the Brothers of St John of God, Brother Timothy Graham, said justice had not merely been done, but had been seen to be done.
"Quite possibly, no other matter had been subject to such comprehensive and rigorous investigation and scrutiny," he said in a statement from Papua New Guinea today.
"I repeat my unreserved apology and that of the Brothers of St John of God to each and every victim of sexual abuse as well as profound sadness for the crimes that took place at Marylands all those years ago," Brother Timothy said.
Moloney had been withdrawn from all ministry immediately charges were first laid. At the same time he was moved into supervised accommodation, away from schools and children.
The Brothers of St John of God purposefully retained him in the order so that he could be so supervised and when he was returned to Australia, he would be similarly housed and supervised for the rest of his life.
Brother Timothy said the order thanked the victims, their families, friends and carers for their resolve in an "incredibly long and tortuous process".
Justice Panckhurst congratulated one of the victims – a 46-year-old unemployed man living in Christchurch – who read his victim impact statement in court as the sentencing began.
The man said he had 338 criminal convictions, many of them for burglaries of Catholic churches.
He said he had been abused by four of the brothers at Marylands Special School in the 1970s, when the school at Halswell was run by the order.
"It has had an absolutely profound effect upon his life," Justice Panckhurst said.
"He has committed so many offences against churches of the same denomination from which the order comes, not to take property but simply to cause damage, no doubt in response for the damage he was done as a young child."
Moloney was convicted on charges involving five boys. Some of the offending involved indecently touching them – two of them on the outside of their clothing – and others involved masturbation.
Justice Panckhurst described it as systematic and opportunistic abuse of the boys and noted Moloney's "fall from grace" after five decades of work within St John of God. He is a trained pharmacist and psychiatric nurse.
"Your career and achievements within the order are dashed. Your life's work is discredited. Your legacy is now that of a child abuser rather than a man who had considerable talents and gave them to the order over so many years."
He noted St John of God had made substantial pastoral payments to the victims of abuse.
Another former Marylands priest, Brother Bernard McGrath, was jailed in 2006 for sexual offending against boys at the school.
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