Robert Burnett's convictions for sexually abusing seven boys between 1973 and 1999 can only now be reported, as he pleaded not guilty to child-sex offences before 14 juries between September 2014 and earlier this month.

Media could not report the results until the final trial, so as not to prejudice his prospects of receiving fair hearings.

Despite the long prosecution case against him – Fairfax Media estimates the overall cost of his trials has run to the hundreds of thousands of dollars – Burnett on Tuesday, through his lawyer, called on County Court judge Bill Stuart to show leniency because he is 77, in poor health and could die in prison.

Defence counsel Michael Sharpley said Burnett's age and ill-health were factors Judge Stuart had to consider, and that a substantial jail term would be crushing.

Mr Sharpley said it was appropriate the sentencing range was reduced for his client.

But prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, said deterrence and denunciation were just as vital, and said a punishment "shouldn't be automatically compressed because of old age and health".

"If Your Honour is going to impose a just punishment, one is led to the inevitable result, that he might die in custody," Dr Rogers told the judge.

Judge Stuart said he had not seen "one jot of remorse" or insight from Burnett.

"It's a question of the enormity of the offending versus, at its crudest, the still real prospect of him dying in jail," he said.

Burnett was found guilty of abusing seven boys, aged between seven and 13. In all, he was convicted of 16 charges including two of buggery and another four of sexual penetration of a child under 16.

His victims were either vulnerable boys he met through his work as a carer at Salvation Army homes in Bayswater and Jacana, or in Gippsland, where he lived.

He abused the boys at his home and on camping trips.

Another 10 complainants alleged they had been abused, but Burnett was acquitted in those trials. He can only be sentenced on the charges he was found guilty of.

Most of the trials involved one complainant making the allegations.

In February, Judge Stuart ruled the evidence of six complainants had to be heard in six separate trials because of differences in the type of offending that was alleged.

The Court of Appeal later allowed prosecutors to group some alleged victims together in one trial.

Mr Sharpley said Burnett been trusted and well regarded before the abuse and had on occasions apologised to victims after offending.

Judge Stuart acknowledged the carer's good side, but asked if that trust "was the very thing he used to abuse them".

The impact on the victims, Dr Rogers said, had been immense, and all had relived their ordeals when cross-examined.

Four victims had statements read to the court and spoke of mental-health problems, anxiety and problems with drugs and alcohol.

One man said he had resumed drinking after the stress of his trial, while another lamented a stolen childhood.

"Who knows what I could have aspired to if not for this abuse?" he said.

A third man spoke of the guilt he endured for not reporting Burnett earlier and his distress and self-loathing at learning there were other victims.

Burnett, who walks with a stick and needed headphones to listen to Tuesday's proceedings, will be sentenced on Friday.

He has been in custody since February, following one of the guilty verdicts.