Kevin Jewell: Ex Marist Brother jailed over child sex abuse

A frail former Marist Brother sat seemingly emotionless and alone as he was jailed for abuse inflicted on several boys – one of whom later took his own life because of the trauma inflicted.

An elderly former Marist Brother has been jailed for seven years over disturbing child sex offences committed almost 50 years ago that ruined the lives of eight now grown men.

An ailing Kevin Joseph Jewell, now 82, sat alone and emotionless in the gallery of the Sydney District Court as he was led away in handcuffs on Friday.

Jewell had admitted that during the 1960s he molested several of the 50 boys in his class, some as young as nine, while he was teaching at the Marist College in Eastwood and at another in Randwick.

His victims have previously told the court of the emotional damage they were left with in the wake of Jewell’s campaign of sexual abuse.

Some of the now grown men told now they’d turned into “raging alcoholics”, psychologically scarred adults and one had since killed himself at the age of 51 because of the trauma inflicted on him by Jewell.

Jewell was known as Brother Dacian when he abused the boys in the 60s.

Relatives of the victims wept as the frail convicted sex offender handed over his belt and tie and was led away to the cells by corrections officers at the Downing Centre.

Due to his age and medical conditions Jewell is likely to be placed into protection when he arrives in prison.

Going under the name Brother Dacian in his 20s, the court was told Jewell prayed on the boys between 1967 and 1969 in the classroom during school hours, at piano lessons and while taking swimming classes.

In one brazen attack Jewell continued to fondle a boy’s genitals undeterred while another teacher spoke to him through the doorway of the classroom.

In another frightening ordeal one of the victims was summoned to the front of the class and had his genitals fondled with by Jewell, who continued to ask him about homework while assaulting him.

Jewell (left) picoted at a previous appearance.

In 1970, the court heard, he quit his position because Jewell said: “I cannot keep a vow to my chastity”.

The victims had only disclosed what happened to them as kids when they had met at a school reunion decades later.

Jewell pleaded guilty to 19 counts of indecent assault and his lawyers had previously asked for leniency because the former Marist Brother is in poor health and there had been issues with his fitness to be before a court.

“I’m also deeply sorry for any pain or affliction that my actions may have caused to any of you over the years,’’ Jewell said when giving evidence last month.

The court was told Jewell himself was subject to sexual abuse as a child

In the 1990s Jewell confessed to another brother at Marist Brothers Drummoyne he had previously sexually assaulted a young boy but was only charged in 2017 when police were alerted by the victims to their traumatic time under him.

Judge Ian Bourke sentenced him to jail for seven years, but will serve a non-parole period of four years before he is eligible for release.

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