Former catholic priest jailed for 17 years for sexual abuses of young boys and child pornography
By Edward Era Barbacena
A former NSW Labor Party official and priest who abused boys on “abhorrent” child sex tourism trips in south-east Asia, during which he also produced abuse images, has been jailed for 17 years.
Peter Andrew Hansen pleaded guilty in February to 31 charges, including eight counts of engaging in sexual intercourse with children under 16 outside Australia, and 20 counts of producing child abuse material.
In addition to the Commonwealth offences relating to the production of child abuse material in Asia, the 31 charges include two counts of the NSW offence of possessing child abuse material. Hansen received a separate sentence for those counts of four years and three months, to be served concurrently with his 17-year sentence for the Commonwealth offences and backdated to his 2018 arrest at Sydney airport.
From 2014 until his arrest, Hansen used Facebook and an encrypted instant message program called Brosix to connect with fixers and other consumers of child abuse material to discuss and share the material and arrange meetings with young boys in the Philippines and Vietnam.
In messages from October 2016, revealed in court documents, Hansen complains to a user called ‘Maliboy Hornbag’ about a “dud” experience in Cebu, and discusses plans for an upcoming “nude party”, including his location requirements – “high wall”, “locked gate”, “caretaker not onsite”.
Hansen says “I could have 5-8 in the house, we could lock the doors and pull the curtains”.
He tells Maliboy Hornbag he hoped to “keep the camera busy” on the trip and describes one small boy as a “sucker”.
On November 5, Hansen arrived in the Philippines and met with his fixer, 34-year-old Filipino national Joey Donozo, with whom he communicated on Facebook.
Donozo took photographs of local boys in Cebu under the pretence of a modelling shoot and would send them to Hansen, who would tell him which ones he liked and wanted to meet. Hansen would pay Donozo the equivalent of $8 AUD each time he brought children to his hostel.
On November 11, Donozo met with 11 boys and took them to a rented villa where Hansen was waiting with gifts of polo shirts and swimming shorts, which he instructed them to change into from their school uniforms. Hansen took several photos of the boys while clothed before they were instructed to go to his room and undress.
Hansen, then in his underwear, took further photos of the boys as he instructed them to remove their clothing. He took photos of them in various sexual poses before instructing them to stand in a line. He then performed sex acts on each boy.
Prior to his arrest, Hansen had been the president of Labor’s Cabramatta branch. He had also run as a Labor candidate in the 2016 Fairfield Council election. He was a Catholic priest in Melbourne from 1996 until early 2011 and, before that, a lawyer.
In his sentencing remarks in the NSW District Court on Friday, Judge James Bennett said Hansen’s “abhorrent conduct” included a high level of planning and organisation.
He said he was not persuaded that the offender was “contrite” in his evidence, that he “had the capacity for manipulation” and sought to deflect responsibility by repeatedly using the term “compulsion” to explain away his “prolific and prolonged” conduct.
The remorse Hansen expressed was “more concerned with his own predicament” than what he had done to the children, Judge Bennett said, adding it “beggars belief” that Hansen said he did not appreciate the extent of the harm to his victims until he read their statements.
“Protecting children from such behaviour is important,” Judge Bennett said. “These images can be stored anywhere and published anywhere in the world for many years. Each time the victims are revictimised by such occurrences.”
Appearing in court via video link, Hansen did not react as Judge Bennett read out his sentence.
He will be eligible for parole in October 2032.
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