Pedophile Priest Faces $3.1 Million Lawsuit
By Chloe Fedio
OTTAWA — An 82-year-old pedophile priest is facing a $3.1-million lawsuit from the former Ottawa student he admitted to sexually abusing in 1974.
Now 55, the man who was molested in his sleep as a 16-year-old by Kenneth O’Keefe is also suing the Ottawa Catholic School Board and two other religious organizations associated with the priest for alleged inaction on the sexual abuse.
O’Keefe was a teacher, guidance counsellor and teacher at St. Pius X High School — what the man considered to be “the ultimate ecclesiastical and educational authority” when he was in Grade 11, according to a statement of claim filed in April.
When the teen confided to O’Keefe after a basketball practice one night that he had an argument with his parents, he was invited for a sleepover. It wasn’t until the teen arrived that he realized O’Keefe only had one bed, which was offered to him. He woke in the middle of the night to find O’Keefe’s hand in his underpants. The teen ran home and told his parents, who in turn notified the school, according to the claim.
“There was no response from the school or O’Keefe,” the claim stated. “The plaintiff did not return to school for a week. Upon his return, he was greeted by O’Keefe. The plaintiff immediately left the school and never returned.”
More than 30 years later, the man reported the abuse to police after he heard another teacher at the school was accused of molesting a student.
O’Keefe pleaded guilty to indecent assault in 2012. In January 2013, he also pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 17-year-old boy in Gatineau.
The Ottawa man said he was “deprived of a normal healthy childhood and adolescence” and his life was “fundamentally and forever changed” by the sexual abuse and subsequent inaction by those he holds responsible, the claim details.
He details physical, mental, psychological, emotional and economic struggles as a result of the abuse.
In his statement of defence, O’Keefe denies that the boy he molested “has suffered damages and loss as alleged.”
He added that the “damages are remote, speculative and not recoverable in law.”
The school board has not filed a statement of defence.
The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Ottawa, which administers parishes in the city, and the Basilian Fathers of Toronto, the headquarters of the religious order that ordained O’Keefe in 1958, were also named in the lawsuit for “promoting a culture of secrecy with respect to the sexual misconduct of clergy.”
The Basilians filed a statement of defence, arguing that it “did not own or operate the school.” The claims said the group was not aware of and did not attempt to cover-up O’Keefe’s “deviant behaviour.”
The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Ottawa has not filed a statement of defence.
A mediation has been scheduled for December 2014.
A second priest from St. Pius, Father William Joseph Allen, was found guilty of sexually molesting three brothers at the high school in the early 1970s.
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