http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=95e8c813-3ed6-4577-9505-83dcdf75a8d7&k=43803Priest guilty
Bernard Prince, 72, pleads to several charges of sex assault over a 20-year period
Andrew Seymour
Ottawa Citizen
Monday, January 14, 2008
CREDIT:
Bernard Prince.
A prominent Ottawa Valley priest
whose service to the Catholic Church was rewarded with a Vatican post was sentenced to four years in prison Monday for sɛҳuąƖly molesting 13 young boys.
Reading from a handwritten statement, Msgr. Bernard Prince, 72, showed no emotion as he apologized to his victims for his "legal and moral" wrongdoing after being found guilty of one charge of indecent assault and pleading guilty to 12 more charges of indecent and sɛҳuąƖ assault. Court heard the assaults took place between 1964 and 1984.
"I wish to sincerely apologize to everyone concerned for the harm that I have caused, directly or indirectly," said Msgr. Prince, a personal friend of the late Pope John Paul II.
"It's my hope in the future I can contribute in some small way to restore to those persons I have hurt in the past," he added.
But at least one of his victims didn't believe Msgr. Prince's display of remorse, accusing the retired priest of "playing to the system to get the shortest sentence possible.
"I see him as the abuser and pedophile that he is," said the 42-year-old man. Court heard that the former altar boy was sɛҳuąƖly assaulted by Msgr. Prince at the priest's Wilno cabin when he was between the ages of 10 and 13.
The man, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, asked the court in his victim impact statement to "not be swayed toward a lenient sentence for the elderly gentleman before you. Instead, please punish the deviant, deceitful, predatorial pedophile for his horrorific criminal actions."
Outside court, the man criticized the sentence, which the Crown and defence counsel agreed upon before the finding of guilt, as being too lenient.
"The Canadian system has to get much tougher on these types of crimes and hand out a punishment that equals the torment of the victims of these crimes," said the man.
While the guilty plea may have ended the criminal proceedings, the information presented in court Monday raised several questions as to what the Catholic Church and Pembroke diocese knew about the sɛҳuąƖ allegations against Msgr. Prince, who retired more than three years ago.
According to a statement of facts, one of the victims told his sister about the abuse in the 1960s, and she then reported it to the Catholic high school. Two weeks later, Msgr. Prince was removed from the area. Another victim reported sɛҳuąƖ abuse to the church in 1989 or 1990, a year before Msgr. Prince moved to the Vatican. A third victim alleged he told Msgr. Prince's mother about an assault moments after it occurred, to which she responded, "he's at it again," before speaking with him.
The matter is expected to now shift to the civil courts, where the Catholic Church and the disgraced former priest are going to be subject to several multimillion-dollar lawsuits.
At least two civil suits have already been filed, while a lawyer representing eight of the victims said Monday he intends to file another civil suit on their behalf seeking damages for their emotional and financial suffering.
Rob Talach, of London law firm Ledroit Beckett, which has represented other victims of sɛҳuąƖ abuse by clergy, said
the Msgr. Prince case fits the "template of the typical Catholic church case."[/u]
Calling it a "conspiracy of silence," Mr. Talach said he believes the evidence of some of the victims indicate the church was negligent from early in Msgr. Prince's career if they knew about the allegations and did nothing to stop them.
Mr. Talach said the fact Msgr. Prince was never promoted to a senior position in the Pembroke diocese and was instead shuffled from one administrative post to another suggest the church knew about the allegations.
In a statement released following the guilty plea, the diocese of Pembroke apologized to all of Msgr. Prince's victims and expressed "sincere concern and compassion" for the victims and their families.
"Any case of clergy sɛҳuąƖ abuse always brings shame to the Church and tarnishes our mission," said the statement, which did not address what the Church knew about allegations against the priest.
"The diocese of Pembroke has endeavoured to be transparent and co-operative in the efforts uncovering the truth. With the facts at hand, we wish to assure the injured parties of our continued desire to be supportive in the healing process," it said.
According to the statement of fact, the abuse the victims endured ranged from fondling and masturbation to oral sex and anal intercourse. The victims were aged 10 to 16 when the assaults, which frequently involved Msgr. Prince lying in bed naked with his victims, occurred. Several of the victims served as altar boys, court heard.
Msgr. Prince disputed some portions of the statement of fact, saying he never had intercourse or oral sex with the boys. He also denied any of the victims were pre-pubescent and said his mother was never aware of his actions.
According to the statement of fact, the majority of the assaults occurred at Msgr. Prince's Wilno cabin or at his apartment in Ottawa, although court heard at least one of the victims was assaulted in Msgr. Prince's car in a parking lot outside of church.
In handing down her sentence, Justice Julianne Parfett said Msgr. Prince held a privileged position of trust in the community and among the families of his victims, who liked and respected him.
Judge Parfett scolded Msgr. Prince not only for destroying his victims' lives, but also their faith in God and the church.
Court heard many of Msgr. Prince's victims came from poor families who were devoutly Catholic.
"It is that deep breach of trust that underpins the sentence you will receive today," said Judge Parfett. "It was a trust you abused in the most fundamental manner."
In addition to the four-year prison sentence, Msgr. Prince must submit a DNA sample to the national databank and be listed on the sex-offender registry for the next 20 years. He is also banned for life from visiting parks, swimming pools or other areas where children younger than age 14 may gather.
Earlier in the day, Judge Parfett found Msgr. Prince guilty of one count of indecent assault against a now 44-year-old Toronto man who alleged he was repeatedly sɛҳuąƖly assaulted at Msgr. Prince's cabin and Ottawa apartment. It was the only charge Msgr. Prince disputed.
Following the guilty verdict, Msgr. Prince pleaded guilty to the 12 additional charges of indecent and sɛҳuąƖ assault.
Before being sentenced, court heard victim impact statements from six of the men Msgr. Prince abused. Another six submitted victim impact statements to the judge, which were sealed in order to protect the identity of each man.
In the statements read in open court, the men expressed how Msgr. Prince's actions had negatively affected their lives, and their struggles with alcohol abuse, depression, strained family relationships and thoughts of ѕυιcιdє.
"I was morally and spiritually destroyed. He had stolen my life," said one man. "How could I survive? I had met the devil."
The Crown prosecutor and defence counsel agreed on the length of the sentence handed to Msgr. Prince.
Following the court proceedings, Msgr. Prince's lawyer, Chris Kelly, said his client voluntarily returned to Canada from Italy even though there was a "faint" legal threat compelling him to return.
He also wrote a letter of apology to one of his victims before the police launched a criminal investigation. He pleaded guilty to 12 of the charges to avoid a lengthy trial that would require many of the victims to testify, said Mr. Kelly.
Msgr. Prince voluntarily went for an assessment that determined he was a low risk to reoffend, Mr. Kelly said.
Crown prosecutor John Pepper believes the sentence was fair.
"We feel it was an appropriate sentence because it balances the seriousness of the offences and the damage he has done to his victims and the community," said Mr. Pepper. "It recognizes he is not much of a risk to reoffend again. He has shown by his actions he is remorseful."
Msgr. Prince's victims said no prison sentence could adequately reflect their pain and suffering.
"I don't believe there is any sentence that can replace what he took from us," said a now 41-year-old man who was abused at Msgr. Prince's Ottawa apartment in March 1984. "He is going to finally be treated like the predator that he is."
The man said he was caught off guard by Msgr. Prince's apology, however.
"It actually shows he has some remorse. He could have made this process a lot more difficult for us," said the man, who now hopes the Catholic Church will accept responsibility for what happened to them.
OPP Det. Insp. Jeff Bahm, who headed the investigation known as Project Betrayal, praised the courage of the men who came forward to tell investigators stories of abuse that, in many cases, had never been told to anyone before.
Msgr. Prince was ordained in 1963.
His career included posts at the Vatican as the secretary general of the Pontifical Work for the Propagation of Faith.
He had worked at parishes in Arnprior and Pembroke before he took a posting at the Apostolic Nunciature in Ottawa.
He later worked at the Canadian Conference of Bishops in Ottawa and taught at Saint Paul University on Main Street before moving to Toronto as director of Canada's Pontifical Mission Society.
He retired more than three years ago.
Topic: "personal friend" of JPII pleads guilty to molesting 13 young boys (Read 841 times)