Standen's victims speak out

"They were deplorable acts over a long period of time," he said.

"They were calculated and they were all behind closed doors and he was aware of his acts of indecency towards us. I believe that was his biggest sin."

The man cannot be named for legal reasons. In April he delivered a forceful account of the day in 1980 when Standen called him into his office to be punished. He had been late back from sport, after lights out.

Bro Standen made him pull down his trousers. The Christian Brother pulled his underpants hard between his buttocks, brushed his hand past the boy's genitals and later rubbed his buttocks, the court heard.

The now grown man said he still remembers the fear. He said at the time he was in Year 7, feeling homesick, vulnerable and scared.

"It was disgusting and to hear the continuity of cases means I wasn't alone and that makes me feel better," he said.

"I feel vindicated because I questioned myself and my sanity in all of this. Did it really happen?"

The man said he was satisfied with Friday's sentence. It had been a "two-and-a-half-year battle" for him and believed it would be hard for Standen, as a sex offender, to win parole.

"I'm glad it's years, not months because he's been institutionalised all his life and this (jail) is going to be a tough, tough institution. This time alone will give him time to think about what he's done," he said.

"The work is done and I've given every single, solitary part of myself.

"It's affected me, it's affected my marriage, my children, my relationships...It's always on my mind and it's come to the surface.

"It needed to happen because I may have exploded in another way and this is a way of achieving not closure, but relief.

"I feel like that weight is off my shoulders and I can laugh again. I can smile at little things that my children do, like making a tackle at football. I can laugh again because I always felt there was this thing in the back of my head saying 'I'm not allowed to enjoy myself.' The small things in life I can recognise now."

But another victim told the Post he was "guttered" by the sentence.

"I felt he deserved more," he said.

"I think he got off lightly given the number of victims.

"I've been living with it for 40 years and it gives some closure. The future will determine how far I can put it behind me.

"I look at all these guys. We've all moved on and done things with our lives but as children we should never have been subjected to that abuse."