Ontario Priest Officiated at Wedding of Alleged Sex Assault Victim

By Neil Bowen
Sun News
October 18, 2013

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/10/20131017-194412.html

A former priest charged with sexual assault officiated at the wedding of one of his alleged victims, court heard Thursday.

Gabriele DelBianco, 57, is on trial for 16 sexual offences involving four women during the 1980s.

He has pleaded not guilty.

The woman, now in her 40s, testified she would move away when DelBianco tried to kiss her but did submit to his request to remove ingrown hairs from his genital area. She was 14 at the time.

Another time she stayed overnight at a cottage with DelBianco, with her parents' permission. They drank alcohol and, she said, she became tired and then paralyzed as DelBianco got on top of her while they were watching television. At that point, her vision was blurry, but she realized he was having intercourse with her.

"I felt myself trying to push him away, but I couldn't," she said.

Nothing more was said about the evening, and they continued a friendship for many years. When she got married in her 20s, DelBianco officiated at the ceremony and counselled the couple.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Andrew Bradie, the woman said she only remembered bits and pieces about the cottage incident until she was interviewed by police in 2011.

On Wednesday, another woman in her 40s testified that DelBianco took her to a cottage overnight, where he gave her alcohol and they showered together, then she performed oral sex on him on and he digitally penetrated her in what she called "rough and weird" sex.