None of the women, whose jobs were dependent on Katsav, filed complaints against him at the time of the offences.
It was Katsav himself who opened the lid when he went to the police to complain that a former secretary was trying to blackmail him. During the police investigation, several other women also complained about sexual harassment by Katsav but their cases were not pursued, either because the statute of limitations had expired or because they were not considered reliable enough witnesses.
The case shocked and shamed Israel. Katsav had always been a grey figure on the fringes of the political scene but the Likud Party recognised his political value as an immigrant from the Islamic world, a Sephardi Jew, who had begun life in humble circumstances but had worked his way up into national life.
That was precisely the constituency, a sizeable one, that the Likud sought to cultivate and it was this that enabled Katsav to climb the political ladder.
In the right-wing Likud, he was on the moderate wing. That and his amiable personality made him an inoffensive figure even to politicians in left-wing parties.
But there was widespread scoffing when in 2000 he announced that he was running for the largely ceremonial, but lofty, position of president against the Labour Party's Shimon Peres, a man of international stature and immense achievements in state building.
To everyone's amazement, Katsav - who in terms of political achievement was a nobody - nosed out Peres in the Knesset vote by behind-the- scenes politicking and by playing the ethnic card to win the votes of other Sephardim.
Peres took over when Katsav was dethroned, and is now playing an important role as a politically active President.
Katsav, 66, was born in Iran and arrived in Israel with his family when he was 5.
They lived in an immigrant tent-camp for several years before moving to the small immigrant town of Kiryat Malachi in southern Israel. He was one of the first from there to obtain higher education, graduating from Hebrew University in 1971.
At the age of 24, he became Mayor of Kiryat Malachi, his first rung on the political ladder, a ladder he would eventually climb too high.
"Cursed is the day that I became President," he said this month.
Katsav's tenure as President was unremarkable until the sexual case broke. In 2005, he attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome and found himself seated, because of alphabetical order, next to Iranian President Mohammed Khatami.
Both knew they were born in the same city in Iran, Yazd. Katsav would relate that he shook hands with Khatami. The Iranian would deny it, although the temper of his country's politics meant he would have had to deny it.
In both the district and supreme courts that convicted the former President, the three-member benches were made up of two women and one man. In both cases, the male judge was an Israeli Arab.
Observers believe Katsav's strenuous protestations of innocence despite the evidence brought by the police and the rulings of the courts may mean he has persuaded himself he is innocent.
At one point, Katsav's lawyers came to an agreement with the attorney-general under which Katsav would plead guilty to lesser sexual charges and would not serve jail time.
Katsav in the end rejected the deal, saying he was guilty of nothing more than giving affectionate hugs.
Sentences are often reduced by one third but the prisoner must first admit his guilt and open the way to rehabilitation. Katsav's refusal to admit any guilt would rule that out unless he is persuaded to change his mind.
At an impromptu press conference in front of his house in Kiryat Malachi on Wednesday before being driven off to prison, he again proclaimed his innocence, saying: "A man is being executed today without proof. One day you will see that you have buried a man alive."
Katav is sharing a cell with a Knesset member, convicted of accepting bribes, who had voted for his presidency. Also in the wing for religious prisoners where he asked to be placed are two people who appealed to him for pardons when he was President. He rejected them. Prison officials say a guard will be placed in the wing to ensure no harm comes from those two to Katsav who will otherwise have no special privileges.
But the guard's main task will be to ensure that Katsav does not seek to harm himself.
