Gregory Joseph Sutton, 74, sentenced for molesting Innisfail boy 50 years ago

A notorious former Marist Brother pedophile – who was charged after a Royal Commission inquiry – has walked from court afterpleading guilty to indecently assaulting a boy 50 years ago when he was a teacher and also the boy’s football coach.

Marnie Buchanan

2 min read

March 26, 2025 - 3:01PM

The Cairns Post

Gregory Joseph Sutton, 74, leave Cairns District Court after Sutton pleaded guilty to historic child sex offences committed in Innisfail between 1973 and 1975.

Cairns

Don't miss out on the headlines from Cairns. Followed categories will be added to My News.

Pedophile Gregory Joseph Sutton, 74, received a wholly suspended 15-month prison sentence in Cairns District Court over the assault in Innisfail.

These most recent charges were committed by Sutton when he was in his early 20s.

The court was told Sutton was charged after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and he has since confessed to committing 73 child sex offences against 17 girls and boys in NSW and Canberra throughout the 1980s.

He fled to the US for several years, where he underwent sex offender treatment programs in the USA and Canada. He was extradited back to Australia in 1996.

The court was told Sutton was the boy’s rugby coach and a teacher at his Innisfail school between 1973 and 1975; he would entice the boy, then aged between 9 and 12, into his car with the offer of letting him “drive”, the court was told.

Convicted pedophile and former Marist Brother Gregory Joseph Sutton, 74, leave Cairns District Court after Sutton was given a wholly suspended 15-month prison sentence on two counts of indecent treatment of a bor under 14 in Innisfail 50 years ago.

Crown prosecutor Claudia Georgouras said Sutton would sit the boy on his lap so he could steer the car, touching and indecently assaulting him while they drove.

The boy, who would now be in his 50s, was one of Sutton’s first victims, the court was told.

Defence Solicitor Greg Walsh told the court he had represented Sutton in all his court appearances over the past 30 years.

He said Sutton had served 12 years of a 15-year prison in solitary protection in Goulburn Jail, and had lived a life of shame since then.

He said Sutton had gone to great lengths to rehabilitate himself, address his psychosexual issues through counselling and medical intervention, make apologies and amends, and to comply with orders placed upon him, including the strict conditions of the Sex Offenders Register, on which Sutton will remain until at least 2032.

Sutton first admitted to the Innisfail crimes in 1996, and had since made a written apology, Mr Walsh said.

Sutton, 74, leaving Cairns District Court.

He submitted the court should exercise “mercy” on Sutton with a wholly suspended sentence because of his remorse and rehabilitation, the time that had passed since the offences, and Sutton’s personal circumstances as the sole carer for his wife of 33 years, who is 80 and has cancer.

Judge Dean Morzone KC agreed Sutton had taken extraordinary steps to rehabilitate and address his offending, which he suggested was necessary to mitigate the extraordinary damage caused by his “dreadful criminal history driven by an attraction to children”.

“As you reflect on a life of offending against young people, you’ve effectively imposed your own imprisonment … and live with constant shame and embarrassment,” Judge Morzone said.

He noted a psychiatric report from 2015, produced after 10 years of treatment, that declared Sutton was ‘fully rehabilitated’ and that he continued to voluntarily engage in treatment to prevent relapse.

Judge Morzone said that despite the serious breach of trust and authority of his crimes, his current personal circumstances, remorse, guilty plea and extensive rehabilitation were “exceptional”, warranting a suspension of the entire 15-month jail sentence for 15 months.