Former Catholic priest David Edwin Rapson is back behind bars after being found guilty of sexually abusing six boys at Victorian schools.
The former Catholic Priest was jailed for 13 years in 2013, but was bailed 12 months later when the Victorian Court of Appeal quashed his rape and sexual assault convictions.
But Rapson is once again in custody after he was found guilty of five charges of rape and six counts of indecent assault in fresh trials which were suppressed until this week.
Those charges relate to attacks against six students at two Victorian boarding schools between the 1970s and 1990.
Rapson, 61, used alcohol, cigarettes and computer games to lure his schoolboy victims into his office where he sexually assaulted them.
Defence barrister, Shaun Ginsbourg, told Rapson's Victorian County Court plea hearing on Wednesday his client's physical and mental health had deteriorated since his original trial.
Mr Ginsbourg said Rapson had abused alcohol in the lead-up to his 2013 trial to cope with anxiety, but could no longer self medicate when jailed.
He said this led to the former priest and principal suffering a breakdown in prison.
He urged Judge James Parrish to take Rapson's diminished health into account when sentencing him.
But prosecutor David Cordy said little weight should be given to the anxiety and depression Rapson was now battling.
"Very few people are going to travel better in prison than in the community," Mr Cordy said.
Victorian County Court Judge Liz Gaynor in October 2013 jailed Rapson for 13 years, with a minimum of 10, after he was found guilty of five charges of rape and eight counts of indecent assault against eight boys.
The convictions were set aside after the Office of Public Prosecutions conceded the charges should not have been dealt with in the one trial, in a move which devastated his victims.
Judge Parrish will sentence Rapson next month.
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