St Ignatius College priest Father Stanislaus John Hogan jailed over ‘graphic and repugnant’ child pornography
A SENIOR priest at a prestigious Adelaide private school who downloaded more than 1500 images of depraved child pornography has today been jailed for at least 10 months.
A SENIOR priest at a prestigious Adelaide private school who downloaded more than 1500 depraved images of child pornography will serve at least 10 months behind bars.
The District Court has previously heard police had seized 1555 images and videos as part of an illicit children pornography collection, which also included magazines and books of children aged between three and 16 years.
The collection was found during a police raid of Hogan’s Saint Ignatius College residence at Athelstone in 2012.
In sentencing today, Judge Peter Brebner detailed some of the horrific child exploitation material police found during a police raid of Hogan’s Saint Ignatius College residence at Athelstone in 2012.
He said Hogan’s offending had came about as he struggled to understand his sexuality.
“You struggled for years to reconcile your ethical, religious, spiritual and philosophical beliefs with your sexuality and your prurient interests in child pornography,” he said.
Judge Brebner also said Hogan was found with three books — one of which described the “graphic and repugnant” rape of an underage boy.
He said Hogan had applied to leave the Jesuit priesthood but wanted to remain working at the church’s Sevenhill centre as a volunteer.
“You have impressive tertiary qualifications — you have had a long and distinguished career teaching at Jesuit schools.
“You have lost your reputation and your vocation as a consequence of these crimes.
“However, these are often ordinary consequences of crimes such as yours and you are intelligent enough to have known these things would happen.”
Hogan had been the school’s rector at the time of the raid and he had held prominent teaching positions throughout Australia, including at St Aloysius’ in Sydney and Xavier College in Melbourne, during the past three decades.
Australian Jesuits Provincial Superior Brian McCoy released a statement today apologising for the behaviour of the once “well-respected priest and teacher.”
“We have in place across all our schools and other ministries firm policies and practices for safeguarding children, at the heart of which is our fundamental commitment to respect, nurture and protect children from harm,” she said.
Judge Brebner sentenced Hogan to two years and six months’ jail with a non-parole period of ten months.
He said Hogan’s crimes were simply “too serious” for him to consider suspending that sentence.