A FORMER Ballarat Christian Brother has been found guilty of multiple counts of indecent assault on schoolboys in his care. Robert Charles Best, was convicted of offences committed over 20-years at three different Catholic schools, including at St Alipius primary school in Ballarat East. From 1968 to 1973, Best taught at the primary school for boys, where he also acted as the headmaster.Best was at the school at the same time as other convicted sex offenders including Gerald Ridsdale who was sentenced to long terms in jail at two separate trials.Best, 70, yesterday pleaded guilty to six charges, as his seventh trial was due to start in the Victorian County Court.It was yesterday revealed he had previously been convicted on 21 charges after pleading not guilty in six trials over the past year.In all, Best has been convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, 27 charges involving 11 boys between 1969 and 1988.Christian Brothers Oceania yesterday issued a statement after the sudden change in Best's legal position, offering a ''sincere and unreserved'' apology to the former students sexually abused by him.Its executive officer for professional standards, Brother Brian Brandon, said the Christian Brothers were ''deeply saddened by these events, especially the great distress and suffering caused to these victims and their families''.He added that the Christian Brothers ''view abuse in any form - and, particularly, the sexual abuse of the young and the vulnerable - as repulsive''.A committal hearing into new charges against Best began in Ballarat in 2009, with the court closed to the public.In 2002, it was revealed the Catholic Church had paid up to $200,000 and asked victims to sign a confidentiality clause as part of compensation for sexual abuse by priests and brothers in Ballarat.The case, before Judge Roy Punshon, was adjourned until a plea hearing in July.