District Court judge Robert Hulme today said Evans had exploited very vulnerable young boys for his own sexual gratification and cultivated many of them to comply by giving them favourable attention and reward. "The offender cultivated the complainants' compliance with his unbridled sexual urges,'' Judge Hulme said.

Outside the court, one of the victims, who cannot be named, said he was "very happy" with the sentence. But another of Evans's victims said that he had expected a longer sentence and was disappointed he was not invited to the Pope's apology. Judge Hulme sentenced Evans to 15 years in prison, but said he would be eligible for parole in January 2018.

After the court adjourned, victims and their supporters applauded in court and one of them yelled "you're not so special now'' at Evans. Judge Hulme said Evans was not entitled to leniency because his offences were not isolated incidents and many of the victims had told the court they had been abused regularly.

He said he was unsure about Evans' prospects for rehabiliation because he was still denying the offences. But when Judge Hulme said he took into account in sentencing that "there is no suggestion that in the intervening period he has committed any further offences'', a gasp was heard in the court room, packed with Evans' victims. However, police in NSW and Victoria are investigating allegations of further offences allegedly committed by Evans while he was working in Victoria.

One of the victims spoke outside court and encouraged others who had the "courage and support'' to come forward. The victims had explained credibly in court why they had not come forward before, Judge Hulme said.

Many of his young victims would not have had the psychological wherewithall to complain. And, he said, "even if a boy was to complain [at the time of the abuse] there was a fair chance nothing would come of it''. "Who would believe that a priest would do such things to a boy in his care.''

One of the boys told the court he told other boys about his abuse, and was soon asked to see the Boys Town rector, Father Flemming, who encouraged him to forget the incident, saying: "Nothing happened. Men have got urges. It does not mean anything.'' The court heard that Father Flemming, who is dead, had also allegedly assaulted another boy.

One of the boys, the court had heard, harmed himself, burning his leg and later placed a tourniquet on it, leaving him with permanent scars, to erase the memory of his first assault by Evans. The memory of the events had haunted each of the victims ever since, Judge Hulme said.

