A former nun convicted of beating children at her Prince Edward Island commune was sentenced Thursday to eight months in jail and three years probation.

Lucille Poulin, 78, was convicted last month on five counts of assault in the spanking of five children with a wooden paddle.

Judge David Jenkins of the P.E.I. Supreme Court said he wanted to send the message "people cannot assault children without criminal law consequences."

Prosecutors had said they didn't expect the former nun to get the maximum sentence -- five years in prison. Crown prosecutor Darrell Coombs asked for a jail sentence of between a year and 18 months for Poulin.

The nun will spend her eight months in the Sleepy Hollow provincial jail near Charlottetown. During her three-year probation, she cannot care for children or live in the same home as them.

In her pre-sentence statement to the court, Poulin said the "blood of those children is not on my hands anymore."

Poulin said she disciplined children as directed by god and the punishment was always given with love and compassion. The children told the court Poulin frequently assaulted them and seemed crazy with rage.

The judge in the case said Poulin's spankings went beyond discipline to beating the children. He said the force was excessive, frequent and often in no way for the correction of children's misbehaviour.

The prosecutor told reporters he was pleased, saying the case proves that the courts in Canada will not tolerate criminal abuse against children.

On Thursday, Coombs said it was possible charges against other members in the commune will be examined. Testimony during the trial showed others in the commune also gave spankings. Coombs maintains Poulin was the key person in the beatings.

During her two-week trial, Poulin testified that the Bible demands that children be physically disciplined. She told the court that the Bible says that adults should not spare the rod when raising children, saying it drives foolishness out of kids.

She was teaching the children to obey, trying to deliver them from Hell, she said.

Poulin has said she did nothing wrong, no matter what the laws of man decided. She said "scriptures tell us it's better to obey God than man ... Once you obey God, you go free regardless of what others do to you."

Poulin also told the court she would not change her ways if another child came into her care.

Children from Poulin's religious commune who testified said the beatings left them bruised and frightened. The children sometimes endured as many as 39 strikes a time, witnesses have told the court.

All of the children, who were aged seven to 12 at the time of the assaults, have either left or were taken from the commune.

One boy told the court that Poulin hit the children with all her strength. Poulin would hold them by the neck over a chair and their faces would turn blue and sometimes they would even pass out, another said. Others testified that the children were beaten almost every day for violations such as inappropriate laughing, or playing with other children.