A FORMER Roman Catholic priest who claimed he had given an 11-year-old boy “anatomy lessons” has been jailed by an Australian judge for indecent assault.
Ex-Catholic priest Desmond Gannon
Desmond Laurence Gannon’s prosecution was his fifth for abusing youngsters. He was previously convicted in 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2003 for other indecent assaults committed between 1958 and 1976, but had only served one term of imprisonment.
The 79-year-old ex-priest from Melbourne refused to apologise for the assault on the boy for fear of a compensation claim being made against the church, the court heard.
He told police last year that he was merely giving the boy an anatomy lesson when he took him from school and assaulted him in 1968.
I thought it was less formal rather than inviting him into the presbytery, and that’s all … I won’t say sexual abuse because at the time I didn’t know what it was.
In jailing Gannon for 25 months, Judge Frank Gucciardo damned the serial abuser for his lack of true remorse.
He told Gannon that his absence of contrition:
Displays a turpitude of character that borders on the scandalous and is offensive to morality and the law.
He added that Gannon’s explanations for his conduct to the police betrayed self-delusion and a “lack of understanding of the impact of your behaviour” on the victim.
From August to September 1968, when Gannon was a priest in Kilmore, he assaulted the boy in a car, on a bush track, in a church and at a pool. Now 51, the victim said in an impact statement that after the abuses he had felt:
Broken, old, clumsy, dirty, ugly, guilty, confused, rejected, worthless and scared.
A psychiatrist reported that Gannon had a perverse psychosexual structure and had made “some progress” by expressing concern for the victim and the gravity of the offences.
But Judge Gucciardo found that, while Gannon now posed little risk to the community, a jail sentence had to be imposed “in recognition of the significance of the wrong inflicted”. Gannon was jailed for 25 months with a minimum term of 14 months.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
June 12th, 2009 at 8:52 am
25 Months??? it should be 25 bloody years and flogged every day.
June 12th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Ah, yes. "I was only giving the boy anatomy lessons." And Roeder was only giving George Tiller gun-safety lessons.
June 12th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
The sentence is so short. It's a joke.
June 12th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
I bet it went something like this
"hii lil' buddy, see this little thing over there, it gets big when you grow old, but I like it when its little… this thing is for god only, and I'm a messenger of god, so I'm the only one allowed to touch it…and caress it! weeeeeeeee"
I dont know whats wrong with the world lately, but religious bigots and idiots like him seems to be getting more rights than ever! Even less jailtime! That pedophile should spend at least 10 years being someone's elses wife in prison
June 12th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Look on the bright side. If he had been in the UK he would have been given therapy, a suspended sentence and supervision by a probation officer, the boy at the time would have been castigated as encouraging him, and Pope Ratty would have found him a sinecure at the Vatican (too fantastical? Not so, that Bishop guy in the USA who hid his priests and covered up their crimes received just that.)
June 13th, 2009 at 4:51 am
New episode of Dexter me thinks.
June 13th, 2009 at 5:31 am
Wow, thats freakin scary dude. Sad when you cant trust those in leadership at a church isnt it?
RW
http://www.privacy-tools.echoz.com
June 13th, 2009 at 6:33 am
25 month what a joke, what is wrong with the law ?
I’m a religious guy and i find this guy evil like any person with real morales and principal should.
The judge for me is a joke, 25 month ? Really ????
June 13th, 2009 at 6:44 am
Dont worry. You know what they do to pedophiles in prison? This guy will get a work out
June 13th, 2009 at 7:14 am
Flogged is beating right? Because an endless beating sounds right here.
June 13th, 2009 at 8:13 am
So if I were to kick this guy in the nuts could I say it was an anatomy lesson? – "The testicles have many pain receptors. Allow me to demonstrate."
June 13th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Probably apocryphal but makes you wonder.
Young priest takes over in the confessional after aged priest retires. Man confesses that he has sexually abused young boy. Young priest unsure of the penance he should give. Pulls open the curtain and shouts to passing young lad. "Run and ask Father O'Flaherty what he gives for sex with boys."
"I know that already," says the young lad. "A Mars Bar, two bottles of coke and 25p."
June 13th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
the punishment never fits the crime anymore
and he was protecting the "church" from a compensation claim
come here "my child"
maybe they feel they own the children, weird
June 13th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Yeh, I hope goes in to general population at the prison. That'll stretch things a bit.
June 14th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Brilliant idea!!! let's hope he meets someone like minded in prison!
Godless Not Gormless
June 15th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Yeah right, next he'll tell us he just 'fell in him'.
Is it just me, or have the Sun been strangely quiet about this? They're normally the first to be handing out the flaming pitch forks when it comes to pedophiles aren't they?
June 16th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Very funny, Broga!!!!!
June 16th, 2009 at 7:43 am
I wonder whether "Anatomy Lessons" will join "Ugandan Studies" as a euphemism in Private Eye now? Talk about "You couldn`t make it up"!!
June 29th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
I'll believe the church truly feels homosexuality is wrong when they start prosecuting their pedophiles.
June 29th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
I don't understand your comment. Are you equating pedophilia with homosexuality? If so, you need to get an education.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:29 am
I bet all of the judges (in all of the countries) that pass lenient sentences are members of secret Catholic societies such as the Knights of Columbanus, Cathenians, etc. The Catholic Church exerts its power through lay people too. Unless the Catholic Church conduct a thorough cleanup and hands over all info to the law enforcement agencies, they should be punished financially – its the only language they understand !
All Catholics should stop paying money into their local churches until then too. If practising Catholics had a conscience, they would either leave the Catholic Church or at least stop funding them via church dues and collections.
I am a Catholic and I have voted with my feet, i.e. my child was baptised and will be raised as an Anglican. I am thoroughly ashamed of the Catholic Church and will only return when they start accepting responsibility for their actions and inactions associated with their evil behaviour.