A paedophile priest, who served more than a decade in jail for dozens of child sexual offences, has received a suspended sentence for two more historical crimes in far north Queensland.

Gregory Sutton, a former Marist Brother named at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, pleaded guilty in the District Court in Cairns to two counts of indecent treatment of a boy under 14.

Prosecutor Claudia Georgouras told the court Sutton, now aged 74, was the boy’s rugby coach at a Marist school in Innisfail where he was also a teacher.

The offences occurred from 1973 to 1975 when the boy was nine to 12 years old.

Sutton assaulted the young victim while driving him home from rugby training.

Ms Georgouras said Sutton would “entice” the boy by letting him drive his car while the boy sat on his lap.

Judge Dean Morzone said this showed “subtle manipulation”.

“The thrill of the ride, controlling the steering of the car, while carrying out your offending,” Judge Morzone said to Sutton during sentencing.

The court heard the offences were the first time Sutton assaulted a child and marked the start of a prolific history of abuse.

Sutton originally faced the NSW Supreme Court in 1995 and was convicted of 67 sexual offences against 15 boys and girls while working as a teacher at Marist schools in New South Wales, Queensland, and the ACT in the 1970s and 1980s.

He faced court again in the ACT in 2017 when he was given a suspended sentence after sexually assaulting two boys in Canberra in the 1980s.

Defence lawyer Greg Walsh, who has represented Sutton since his first appearance in 1995, said his client’s risk of reoffending was low to extremely low according to experts.

The court also heard Sutton was the sole caregiver of his 80-year-old wife who has multiple severe health conditions, including cancer, and a term of imprisonment would mean she would be left without care.

Judge Morzone sentenced Sutton to 15 months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended.