A RETIRED Catholic primary school teacher convicted of sexually abusing three young girls in the 1970s has been sentenced to 30 months jail after a court heard he has terminal cancer.
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Alois Schmitz, 84, of Hamilton will serve a minimum 11 months jail for sexually abusing girls aged seven and eight at a Hunter Catholic primary school.
A Newcastle District Court judge was told Schmitz has cancer of the stomach and oesophagus.
He was jailed from May 24 after entering guilty pleas to eight child sex offences at West Wallsend Catholic school in February. His earliest release date is April 23, 2020.
The former West Wallsend Catholic primary school teacher and Hamilton parishioner taught at a number of Hunter Catholic schools in the 1970s and 1980s, including St Josephs at Belmont, St Josephs at West Wallsend, St Therese at New Lambton and St Pius at Windale.
He was arrested at his Hamilton home in March, 2018 and charged by Lake Macquarie Strike Force Georgiana police with assistance from Newcastle detectives after women reported crimes committed against them in junior primary.
Catholic church newsletters show Schmitz was an active participant in inner-Newcastle church activities, including as a communion server only weeks before he was charged with the historical child sex offences.
Schmitz also worked as a Mater hospital volunteer in the past. A March, 2016 parish newsletter asked parishioners to include Schmitz in their prayers for the sick.
