Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Ballarat, Victoria, Australia · 2011

Australia: Christian Brother Robert Best convicted of abusing boys at three schools

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

Christian Brother and teacher

Organization

Congregation of Christian Brothers, St Alipius, Ballarat

Spiritual nexus

Children committed to or enrolled in the religious institution were under the clergy's combined pastoral, teaching and custodial authority — the mechanism the Royal Commission identified across these institutions.

  • Institutional obedience or isolation
  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2011-08-08 · guilty plea, conviction and sentence

    County Court of Victoria, Australia. Robert Best pleaded guilty to more than 27 charges of abusing boys as young as eight at three Christian Brothers schools (St Alipius Ballarat, Box Hill, Geelong) and was sentenced to 14 years and 9 months. His appeal did not disturb the convictions.

Appellate history

  1. 2012 · undefined

    undefined

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • teaching authority over primary-school boys

Primary record

Sources

national broadcaster court reporting sentencing report 'Pedophile Best still a Christian Brother', SBS News (2011).

Reports the guilty plea, the schools involved, and the sentence.

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