Former St Joseph's College dorm master brother John Dennis Maguire sentenced for child sex abuse

"The wolf has finally been exposed," a former student of Marist brother John Dennis Maguire said after the 71-year-old was sentenced at the Downing Centre District Court on Friday and taken into custody for the first time.

"The victims were told time and time again they were crying wolf, that they were making it up. Now we know – the wolf was real."

Brother Maguire, who worked at St Joseph's from 1978 to 1986, hung his head as he was sentenced to a minimum sentence of one year and nine months jail for six separate assaults on an 11-year-old boy in 1983 while he was employed as the boy's dorm master.

The decision brought hugs and tears of relief from some of the large contingent of former students and parents who packed the court room.

Among those present were a number of former students, who had gone to police complaining of sexual abuse by Maguire only for a jury to find that their complaints were not proven.

In accordance with the law in 2002 – when Maguire was first charged – each of the former students who said they had been abused by Maguire saw separate trials in which the jury was not told about any other allegations against him.

Maguire was acquitted on seven separate occasions  – with one hung jury – until last November he was convicted for the first time in relation to the abuse of the 11-year-old in 1983.

The court heard on Friday that the victim had cried when his parents first took him to the school at the start of that year, and that Maguire had "promised to look after him".

"The offender was like a father-figure to the victim," Judge Peter Whitford said in his sentencing remarks.

"The offender violated that trust. His motive was sexual gratification and he pursued this over an extended period without regard for the victim's childhood, wellbeing or future."

Judge Whitford said that four of the attacks on the young boy involved rubbing moisturiser into his genitals after telling him it was necessary to prevent "chaffing".

The two remaining charges related to incidents in which the victim woke during the night to find Maguire performing oral sex upon him in the middle of the dorm room as the other boys slept around him.

Judge Whitford found there was a degree of pre-planning in Maguire's offending because he had carefully groomed the chosen victim and his parents, and had then moved the boy's bed closer to his adjoining room as the year had worn on.

However, the judge found that the 71-year-old's actions were not of the worst kind for that offence, noted that he had made a "significant contribution to the community", and found the offender had been subjected to public vilification.

He also said that the sentence would have been higher but for the fact that he was required to take into account that penalties at the time the offence was committed were significantly less severe than they are now.

Speaking after Maguire was taken away, the mother of a former St Joseph's student whose complaint against Maguire had not resulted in a conviction, said she and others felt "vindicated" despite the relatively small prison term.

"I just feel so happy for all those boys who came forward," the woman said.

In a written statement, the Marist Brothers order said that Maguire's actions were a source of great "regret and remorse" and urged others who had been abused to come forward.