People are outraged and devastated by the news that a pedophile teacher from Tasmania that once targeted young boys has avoided prison because he is “morbidly obese”.

61-year-old Peter John O’Neill was employed at 3 schools across Tasmania from 1980 to 1991 when he sexually abused a number of young boys.

On Wednesday, the 140-kilogram former teacher was slapped with a 5 year suspended sentence at Hobart’s Supreme Court.

The court said that the former teacher deserved prison time, however, because he was too fat that it would be difficult to extradite him from Canberra to Hobart, the place where he will be placed in prison.

Victims have offered $40,000 to transport O’Neill, who also needs a full-time carer.

A former student, a victim, who could not be named due to legal reasons, said:

The community wants people like O’Neill in jail. The cost of his crimes has been huge. Our suffering, the harm to our mental health, is immeasurable. It would cost (up to) $40,000 to transport the obese abuser to Tasmania. We, his victims, are willing to raise that transport cost so this man has to face us and then serve his just punishment.

Victims are requesting the Director of Public Prosecutions appeal against the lenient sentence.

One of the victims of the former teacher had tried to commit suicide as a result of the abuse.

Another victim was admitted to a psychiatric hospital more than 50 times.

The court heard how O’Neill befriended one of the boys, who was 10 when the incident happened. He was his personal teacher at that time.

During an overnight trip, the boy told O’Neill that he was feeling scared because of a wild storm. As a result, the pedophile gave the boy a back massage in bed and sexually abused him.

In another incident, O’Neill sexually abused a 15-year-old boy as he was sick in bed. That victim did not come forward until he hit his 40s.

The pedophile teacher is currently incapable of traveling on normal flights or even by car. A special medically equipped transport by air will cost him around 40,000 AUD.

Home detention for the teacher is useless because the accused is incapable of leaving his house without having any proper assistance.