Judge Rules Pedophile Teacher “Too Obese for Jail”

A teacher who sexually abused six students avoids jail time after the court says he is too obese to go to jail.

The morbidly obese pedophile, 61-year-old Peter John O’Neill, depends on a wheelchair to get around and needs full-time care for a giver. In his younger days during the 1980s, O’Neill was a teacher at Dominic College, Burnie High School, and St. Virgil’s College in Tasmania. The abuse occurred while he taught at these facilities.

O'Neill Pleads Guilty

He pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent assault and one count of penetrative sexual abuse of a young person charges in 2020. The court declined to put him in jail, citing his deteriorating health and a cost of $40,000 to transport him back to Tasmania for trial.

The problem is that O’Neill was tried in Canberra where he resided at the time of prosecution, but the crimes occurred in Tasmania. He would need to be transported to Tasmania to serve his jail sentence. Under the ACT, criminals cannot legally be jailed for crimes committed outside its jurisdiction.

Chief Justice Alan Blow suspended the jail sentence and said since the man is homebound, placing him under home detention was not suitable punishment. He also declined to fine the man, citing that he has no money.

In a Supreme Court statement, which you can click here to read, Chief Justice Blow further states that while the victims were seriously impacted and deserve justice, it was out of his hands.

Concerning victim number one, Chief Justice Blow says, ”The victim of this abuse said nothing about it for nearly 30 years, but then disclosed it to his wife when she found him in a distressed state.”

Students Outraged

All six victims were boys, all of whom were outraged to learn that he would avoid jail time. One of the victims provided an impact statement in court:

“What happened to me as a child meant I’m not a whole person. As a survivor of abuse, I have to acknowledge that I’ve lost a lot, I quickly stopped believing in God and I stopped trusting authority.”

Former Dominic College students also expressed anger on Facebook after learning that O’Neill avoided jail time. One student stated, “I couldn’t care less how sick this filth is --his final days should be in jail.” Another confidently wrote, “nothing will give back what he took, but he must pay in some way.”

Rachel Grguervic, who left Dominic College in 1989 said: 'If he doesn’t go to jail and just dies quietly, he doesn’t deserve that. I don’t get why these bastards get bloody protected all the time.'

Ms. Grguervic also told The Mercury that O’Neill did far more than sexually abuse students and emotionally abused them as well.

'I was told that I was fat and dumb, that I’d never amount to anything, no-one would ever love me. If you weren’t concentrating he would hit your fingers with a ruler.'

Baden Daly told the news station that he was physically and emotionally traumatized by O'Neill, who would hit him and make nasty remarks.

'To end up with him as a teacher, for him to do it all over again when I thought I was safe, it was traumatic. I don’t think an apology really cuts it,' he said.

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