Australia: Marist Brother Gregory Sutton convicted across three decades of sexually abusing children in New South Wales, Canberra and Queensland

Proceedings

1. 1996-11-08 · guilty plea and sentence, reduced on appeal

   District Court of New South Wales, Australia. Sutton pleaded guilty to 67 child sexual offences against 15 students at Marist-run schools in New South Wales and was sentenced on 8 November 1996 to 18 years' imprisonment with a 13.5-year minimum; on appeal in December 2000 the sentence was reduced to 15 years with a 12-year minimum.

2. 2017-01-01 · conviction and sentence

   ACT Supreme Court, Canberra, Australia. Sutton received a suspended sentence of two years and two months for offences against two boys in Canberra in the 1980s.

3. 2025-03-01 · conviction and sentence

   Queensland court, Innisfail. Sutton was given a suspended sentence of fifteen months for abusing a boy in Innisfail, north Queensland, between 1973 and 1975.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• classroom and pastoral authority as a Marist Brother over students at multiple Marist-run schools across several decades
• the Marist order's own internal handling that allowed his continued access to children across jurisdictions