Disgraced former Fairy Meadow Catholic priest Kelvin Sharkey was sentenced to a minimum 15 months in jail today for the sexual abuse of an alter boy almost 40 years ago.Handing down the sentence, Wollongong District Court Judge Paul Conlon described the 83-year-old Sharkey’s behaviour as a gross abuse of his position of trust.‘‘He rather cruelly secured the victim’s silence by threatening that he would go to hell if he told his mother and father,’’ Judge Conlon said.Sharkey had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one count of buggery, which occurred between 1969 and 1972, although evidence before the court the assaults continued until 1974 or 1975.The first assault took place on the boy when the victim was a 10-year-old altar boy and Sharkey the parish priest at St John Vianney’s Church, Fairy Meadow.Sharkey will be eligible for parole on July 28, 2011.FOR FULL COVERAGE SEE FRIDAY’S MERCURY