Notorious paedophile and former priest Brian Joseph Spillane has been found guilty of a string of sexual assaults on students at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst, it can now be revealed.
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There has been a complete black-out on Spillane's cases, which have been running in Sydney courts over several years, including two consecutive trials this year.
In the Downing Centre District Court on Monday, Judge Robyn Tupman revoked the series of non-publication orders that has been in force during court proceedings since 2013.
A jury last week found the 73-year-old guilty of 11 charges, including sexual assault, indecent assault and buggery on four students at the boys' school in central west NSW between 1976 and 1988.
He was acquitted of one charge of buggery.
Earlier this year, he was convicted of attacks on five students between 1974 and 1990.
Spillane, who has been in custody since 2010, is serving at least 11 years' jail on previous convictions.
He was sentenced to nine years' jail in 2012 for attacks on young girls, who he accessed through his role as a priest in Sydney and other parts of NSW.
"The offender used his position as a priest to gain access to the homes in which each of his victims lived," Judge Michael Finnane said at the time.
"Because of his position as a priest and because of his standing in the community generally, he was very trusted and the parents of each of the victims readily gave him access to their daughters."
"This was the conduct of a violent bully and coward, done without regard to the effect it would have on the young girl.
"It was sexual abuse carried out by a trusted priest, and was a major breach of trust."
Spillane was then convicted of assaults on five St Stanislaus students after a trial in 2013, and in 2015 he pleaded guilty to assaults on four boys at the school in the late 1980s.
He will be sentenced on the latest convictions early next year.
This article first appeared on smh.com.au
