A former Warrnambool pedophile priest and repeat offender who used "the disguise of holy orders" to access children will spend at least an extra year in jail after confessing to more historical sex crimes.
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Robert Claffey "mocked the priestly authority" in a faith that he "pretended to practice" when he molested two young boys in Ballarat during the 1980s.
The pedophile was already serving a minimum of 13 years and four months' jail for sexually abusing 12 boys and girls aged as young as five, between 1969 and 1992.
But he will now spend at least an extra 12 months on top of that sentence in jail following the fresh allegations, which he confessed to last week.
Claffey's previous offences happened in various western Victorian cities and towns, including Ballarat, Warrnambool, Apollo Bay and Portland, between 1970 and 1992.
Claffey was aged 38 to 41 when he abused the two boys in Ballarat, one who was aged between 12 and 15, and the other boy who was aged six to seven.
On Thursday, County Court Judge Paul Higham condemned Claffey's "gross sense of entitlement".
"You used the disguise of holy orders of the faith that you pretended to practise," he said.
"Your priestly role provided you with various opportunities to access these children.
"You indulged your deviant desires and offended against them."
Judge Higham spoke of how the hands that celebrated the Holy Eucharist were the same hands that "defiled children".
"Your offending not only grossly breached the trust placed in you ... but it also mocked the priestly authority that you pretended to exercise."
The Catholic Church became aware of Claffey's behaviour during the 1980s but moved him from "parish to parish" throughout western Victoria.
At one point, Claffey was installed by the church as a replacement for notorious pedophile Gerald Ridsdale at a coastal parish, where one child was abused by both men.
Judge Higham sentenced Claffey on Thursday to an extra one year and three months in jail on top of his current prison term, of which he must serve at least another 12 months.
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