Priest Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Abusing Four Boys The victims were 11 to 14 years old; the sentence was handed down after an abbreviated trial Clarín September 16, 2011  [Translated into English by BishopAccountability.org. Click below to see original article in Spanish.] http://www.bishop-accountability.org/Argentina/news/2011_09_16_Clarin_Priest_Sentenced_MERCAU_Spanish.pdf A priest in charge of an institution for poor children located in Tigre was sentenced to 14 years in prison for having sexually abused four minors, who were 11 to 14 years old at the time of the incidents. The sentence was handed down by Criminal Court 7 of San Isidro against priest José Antonio Mercau, who is 54 years old. The prosecutor, Jorge Strauss, and the priest’s defense arranged for an abbreviated trial in which the priest claimed responsibility for the abuses. “The abbreviated trial is like putting a lid on it all, since we wanted [Jorge] Casaretto -- second-in-command bishop of San Isidro and presiding bishop of Cáritas -- to declare what it was that the Church did.  Also, the boys wanted to testify, they wanted to give an account of what happened to them, and the abbreviated trial bottles it up.  Furthermore, these crimes are of the utmost gravity, so we believe that the punishment ought to have been greater.  Therefore, we will appeal the verdict,”  Tomás Ojea Quintana, the boys’ lawyer, told Clarín. The priest was in charge of the San Juan Diego Home, in El Talar de Pacheco, Tigre, where he admitted low-income children with family problems who hadn’t previously been placed at child care institutions. In 2005, the four minors -- who at the time lived in the home with 21 other children and the priest -- alleged that, since 2001, they were abused by the priest.  The Court determined that Mercau first seduced them and then “forced or urged them” to have sexual relations with him. The victims’ testimonies were corroborated by five other children who lived at the San Juan Diego Home, and by teachers of a parish located across from the Home. During the trial, testimonies were provided by other priests and by a psychologist of the San Isidro Bishopric, who concurred that Casaretto confirmed for them that Mercau had claimed responsibility for the incidents in a private meeting. One of the most heartrending testimonies was that of one of the abused children, who stated on the record: “I felt fear, shame, disgust and anger.” The priest wasn’t convicted of aggravated sexual contact because the Court determined that the abuses committed by him did not include penetration. After the sentence was read, he was arrested.

.