A RETIRED Marist brother who sexually abused six students in his care has been jailed for two years.
John William Chute, 76, also known as Brother Kostka, pleaded guilty to 19 counts of committing an act of indecency on a child.
The charges related to the abuse of six Marist College students aged 12 to 16 between 1985 and 1989.
ACT Supreme Court judge Malcolm Gray said yesterday Chute had abused his "position as a teacher and a religious mentor" and the trust placed in him by the community.
The court previously heard Chute was sexually abused at the Marist Brothers' Juniorate in Mittagong in NSW when he was a teenager.
He now suffers from a range of medical disorders.
Justice Gray said Chute's health and age meant imprisonment would be "very hard".
But he said the breach of trust, the vulnerability of the victims and the "degradation that some suffered by the presence of (other students)" meant prison was the only appropriate penalty. Chute was sentenced to two years of full-time jail, with another 12 months to be served by way of periodic detention.
A further three years was suspended.
A civil action by the victims against the Trustee for Marist Brothers is continuing in the ACT Supreme Court.