ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Breaking News

02/07/2012

A former priest who was convicted of the attempted rape of a young girl more than 30 years ago will be sentenced later.

Seventy-three-year-old John Calnan of The Presbytery, 35 Paul Street, Cork, also pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of the girl’s brother in west Cork.

His female victim told the court she was still afraid of him.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Mid-Ulster Mail

Published on Monday 2 July 2012

THE parish priest embroiled in an image scandal earlier this year after obscene pictures were inadvertently shown at a primary school has released a statement.

Father Martin McVeigh projected the images onto a screen during a meeting for parents in Pomeroy in preparation for First Holy Communion on 26 March.

One child was present. Parents said 16 indecent images of men were displayed.

The priest said he had no knowledge of the offending imagery.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

Geoff Thompson reported this story on Monday, July 2, 2012

MARK COLVIN: “It would have been no different if he had taken a gun and shot him, it just took longer.”

Those are the words of a relative of a child abused by a Catholic priest who’s one of the subjects of tonight’s Four Corners on ABC TV.

It uncovers a shocking case of abuse involving many children, committed over several years. Perhaps the most alarming revelation is the fact that the Church turned a blind eye to the priest’s crimes. He was allowed to move from parish to parish, apparently without alerting the police.

The story’s reporter, Geoff Thompson, told me first about extensive recent research on the appalling effects of abuse on the victims.

GEOFF THOMPSON: There was a study done in 2010 through Monash University which found that victims of child sexual assault are 18 times more likely to commit suicide and 50 times more likely to die of an accidental drug overdose.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Lesley Houston
Monday, 2 July 2012

A priest who showed indecent images to primary school children received a “rapturous applause” from his Co Tyrone congregation at the weekend before taking leave of his duties.

Father Martin McVeigh has protested his innocence since children preparing for First Holy Communion in May were shown pornographic images during a computer presentation.

The cleric was criticised for his reaction in the aftermath of the scandal when he destroyed a memory stick storing the pictures — which he said had been done in “anger and disgust”.

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CALIFORNIA
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record

Summary of Case: Tod David Brown was ordained in 1963 in the Monterey-Fresno diocese. After the diocese split in 1967, Brown became a prominent priest of the diocese of Monterey. In December 1988 he was named bishop of Boise, ID. Brown served in Boise until 1998, when he was named bishop of Orange, CA. In a 1997 letter to the bishop of the Fresno diocese, a man claimed to have been molested by Brown in Bakersfield, CA in 1965, when the man was a 12 year-old boy. Brown denied the claim. Fresno bishop Steinbock told Brown’s accuser that he had to be interviewed by a psychologist (of Stienbock’s choosing) before there could be an investigation. No one interviewed Brown. The diocese deemed the accusation to be without merit. In 2004, Bishop Brown released the names of those accused in his diocese. He did not include his own name, explaining in 2007 that the omission was, …”because it was very embarrassing and very painful.” Brown remains Bishop of Orange.

Ordained: 1963

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UNITED STATES
The Marietta Times (OH)

July 1, 2012

By Kevin Pierson (kpierson@mariettatimes.com) , The Marietta Times

Getting the person accused of molesting a child into a courtroom on criminal charges can be one of the most difficult challenges an investigator faces.

“You have to deal with the inherent difficulty it’s a child’s word against an adult’s word,” explained Assistant Washington County Prosecutor Kevin Rings.

Knowing that proving a case based on the word of a young child is difficult, law enforcement and Children Services investigators are then placed into the tough position of finding the evidence needed to convict an offender.

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UNITED STATES
The Marietta Times

July 1, 2012

By Evan Bevins (ebevins@mariettatimes.com) , The Marietta Times

When “Monica” was told her child had been sexually abused by a family friend, she sobbed and, for about five minutes, didn’t believe it was true.

Then she turned to Washington County Children Services caseworker Ginger Davey and said, “What do we need to do?”

Monica, who asked that her real name not be used to protect her child’s identity, is an example of how caseworkers like Davey hope parents will react in cases of sexual abuse. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen that way.

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CALIFORNIA
Joey Piscitelli

The Salesians of San Francisco, who were previously disgraced by holding the record for accused, convicted and sued priests in the Bay Area and northern state, have been amping up the the presence of their infamous clan once again.

The “troubled order” as writer Ron Russel described the notorious Salesian province of San Francisco in the San Francisco Weekly in October of 2006 , were entangled in a web of accusations, shuffling, coverups and denial; resulting from decades of ping-ponging sex abusers back and forth from churches, camps, schools and retreats.

A record number of Salesian priests names appeared on the molestation radar, and the Salesian provincials and damage control personnel scrambled to mitigate and dissolve the negative press and lawsuits. But what they could not dissolve what was the truth.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Vor dem Landgericht Würzburg hat ein Mesner gestanden, monatelang einen Jungen sexuell missbraucht zu haben. Er selbst sei naiv, unerfahren und verliebt gewesen, begründete der Mann die Tat.

Ein früher ehrenamtlich tätiger Mesner einer Pfarrgemeinde im Landkreis Kitzingen hat gestanden, einen zwölf Jahre alten Ministranten jahrelang sexuell missbraucht zu haben. Er sei verliebt in den Jungen gewesen, sagte der schmächtige Mann bei Prozessbeginn vor dem Landgericht Würzburg zu seinem Motiv.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

Daily News Staff Report
Philadelphia Daily News

COMMON PLEAS

Will monsignor be out?

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina is scheduled to rule Thursday on whether Monsignor William Lynn will get house arrest while awaiting his Aug. 13 sentencing.

Lynn has been jailed since his conviction June 22 on charges of child endangerment in connection with the pedophile-priest scandal. He is the first senior official of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States to be convicted for covering up child sexual abuses by priests under his supervision.

Lynn’s attorneys argued last week that he should be allowed to stay at a relative’s Philadelphia home while he waits for sentencing. Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington, however, argued that Lynn is a flight risk and must remain in custody. He said 32 Catholic priests fled justice after being arrested since 1985.

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FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

July 1, 2012
By Ludmilla Lelis, Orlando Sentinel

TAVARES — A Lake County man recently won what is likely the first liability claim against the Florida Baptist Convention for a sex-abuse case.

But it will take a second trial to find out if he’ll win any compensation for damages suffered when his former minister, Douglas Myers, molested him.

A Lake County jury in May decided that the statewide Baptist group, which comprises nearly 3,000 congregations and 1 million members in Florida, was negligent for approving Myers to start new churches in Lake County.

Myers, now 63, is serving a seven-year prison sentence for molesting the lawsuit plaintiff when he was 13 years old.

The jury agreed with the plaintiff on nearly all the legal issues, including finding that the convention was negligent in selecting and supervising Myers, and finding the convention had a duty to protect the victim from harm.

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UNITED STATES
RH Reality Check

by Martha Kempner, RH Reality Check

July 1, 2012

Recently, when my almost-six-year-old daughter and I arrived at her dentist’s office she went right to the obligatory waiting room aquarium and I began to watch CNN’s coverage of the Jerry Sandusky trial. A few minutes later she sat down next to me and tested her ability to sound out words by reading his name off the bottom of the screen. Just when it occurred to me that she might read the next line —“sex abuse trial”— and ask me what it meant, the receptionist let out a little gasp and quickly turned to Nickelodeon.

I am relatively comfortable talking about sex with my daughter (I am after all a trained sexuality educator). We’ve recently discussed fertilized versus unfertilized eggs (in answer to a question about why the eggs we were eating were never going to be chickens), sonograms and fetal development (in answer to a question about what you make bones out of), and kissing (in response to something she was watching on, well, Nickelodeon). But sexual abuse is a tricky one and it gave me pause. I want her to be safe and informed but not scared of adults or sex and like many parents I was worried that I might say the wrong thing.

In light of the Sandusky trial, ongoing revelations about Catholic Churches around the country, and the recent New York Times Magazine story on Horace Mann, I thought it might be a good idea to check in with some experts about how to discuss sexual abuse with children of all ages.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Press

By: Michael Orbach

Published: July 2nd, 2012

If there’s any story inside the Jewish community that closely parallels the sexual abuse cover-up inside the Catholic Church, it’s the story of Avrohom Mondrowitz. Posing as both a rabbi and a therapist, Mondrowitz was accused of molesting several boys in his Brooklyn neighborhood in the mid-1980’s. The listed victims were all non-Jewish, mostly because Mondrowitz’s alleged Jewish victims, estimated to be between 100-300 never came forward.

Mondrowitz was charged with eight counts of child abuse and five counts of sodomy. Hours before he was arrested he fled the country, first to Canada and then to Israel. He was rumored to have been tipped off about his pending arrests by local rabbis. He was not extradited since homosexual rape, strangely, was not an extraditable offense in Israel. When the extradition treaty was altered, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that too much time had elapsed for Mondrowitz to receive a fair trial.

The New York Times, in a series of articles on the Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes’ cozy relationship with the Haredi establishment in his district, last week published the results of a FOIL request by activist Michael Lesher. Lesher has been attempting to find out what happened in the intervening years and whether Hynes did everything in his power to bring Mondrowitz to justice. The answer, according to the Times, seems to be, No.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

Stu Bykofsky, Daily News Columnist
Philadelphia Daily News

FOR CRIME VICTIMS, especially victims of sexual abuse, conviction of the assailant is only one point of satisfaction. There’s something more basic.

Former D.A. Lynne Abraham put her finger on it in regard to the conviction of predator priest protector Monsignor William J. Lynn on (alas) a single count.

“This was really very much a victory for the victims,” she said. “They came and testified and were believed.”

She could have been speaking for Judy Castille, whose case was different in many respects, including the outcome, but it was the same in not being believed.

Unlike the victims of priests and Jerry Sandusky, Castille is female, an adult, and her attacker was a woman in Florida, where Castille has lived since moving from Philadelphia in 2004. She is married to former Philadelphia restaurateur Sal Montezinos and is the ex-wife of state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille.

Like some of the boy victims of priests and athletic directors, Castille was angry and frustrated when she wasn’t believed.

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ESPANA
El Mundo de los A.S.I.

España debe hacer frente a los casos de abuso sexual a niños por parte de religiosos durante la dictadura de Franco, lo que podría crear un problema serio a la Iglesia Católica, según varios expertos.

España, país que visita este fin de semana el papa Benedicto XVI, contrasta con otros países de Europa y Estados Unidos, donde a la Iglesia le han estallado escándalos de paidofilia. En España no habido ningún gran escándalo y sólo se ha difundido una docena en los últimos 25 años.

Pero según un estudio de 1994 auspiciado por el gobierno, en la dictadura de Franco (1939-1975) hubo un buen número de casos de abusos a niños, especialmente en internados religiosos, según su autor, Félix López Sánchez, profesor de psicología de la Universidad de Salamanca.

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By HILLARY FEDERICO, hfederico@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

5:40 p.m. EDT, July 1, 2012
NORWICH—
— A Catholic pastor, who is at the center of a state police probe into criminal activity, has resigned from his position at the St. Paul Parish in Waterford, according to a spokesman from the Diocese of Norwich.

Rev. Dennis Carey’s resignation, which was formally submitted on Friday, is effective immediately.

Old Saybrook In a letter read during Saturday evening and Sunday morning masses at St. Paul’s, Michael R. Cote, bishop of Norwich, said that he has “received and accepted” Carey’s resignation.

“Yesterday, [Carey] and I both became aware of a state police Investigation into possible criminal behavior by [Carey]. [Carey] and I have both agreed that while this investigation is ongoing, it would be better for Father to step aside as pastor,” the letter reads.

Carey was ordained a priest in 1998 after a 25-year career as a certified public accountant in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, according to archived Courant articles.

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UNITED KINGDOM
EADT

BY HOLLIE-RAE MERRICK Sunday, July 1, 2012

IPSWICH: Churchgoers were asked to offer up prayers for all those involved in a court case in which a retired priest is accused of 12 sex assaults on a child and an adult.

Father Haley Dossor – who retired as priest-in-charge at St Mary at the Elms, in Elm Street, Ipswich, in November 2006 – also faces three further charges of gross indecency with a child.

The 71-year-old, of Kirton, near Felixstowe, is due to appear before Ipswich magistrates for the first hearing of his case next Monday.

The allegations against Dossor – a former southern area chaplain to Suffolk Constabulary – are said to relate to the period between 1990 and 2004, and involve more than one alleged victim.

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CONNECTICUT
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 01, 2012

NORWICH, Conn. — The bishop of the Norwich Diocese says he has accepted the resignation of a pastor who is the subject of a State Police investigation into possible, but unspecified, criminal activity.

The church said Bishop Michael R. Cote told parishioners of St. Paul Parish in Waterford on Sunday that the Rev. Dennis Carey resigned on Friday.

Cote says he and Carey became aware of the investigation on Thursday and that Carey stepped aside to focus on issues that may come up in the investigation.

Cote said the church is cooperating with authorities, but he provided no details.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

The Latest News on the Proposed New Lay ‘Umbrella Organisation’

Following the agreement at the All Hallows meeting on the 30 May to establish a Steering Group to develop a Policy Framework, the Steering Group met for the first time on Tuesday 26 June. The group is comprised of eight volunteers (four female and four male members) representing a number of the established lay groups and also includes individuals who are not aligned with any group. In establishing the Steering Group every effort was also made to secure age and geographical balance.

The meeting made considerable progress in reaching agreement on a number of key issues which will underpin the Policy Framework. In particular:

– The new organisation will be structured along the lines of an association or alliance (of Irish Catholics) open to both members of existing groups and individuals who are not aligned to any group – lay or religious.

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UNITED KINGDOM/MINNESOTA
MSNBC

LONDON — Minnesota prosecutors’ efforts to have a convicted sexual predator brought to trial in the United States were thwarted on Thursday when Britain’s High Court dropped extradition proceedings, saying the U.S. hadn’t guaranteed the suspect would be kept out a program some deem draconian.

Shawn Sullivan, 43, is accused of molesting two girls and raping a third in the 1990s in Minnesota. Sullivan fled the United States and eventually ended up in London, where authorities caught up to him two years ago.

Judges Alan Moses and David Eady said in a ruling finalized Thursday that if Sullivan were returned to the U.S., he could face a real risk of being placed in the state’s civil commitment program — which provides for the indefinite detention of people found to be sexually dangerous — and suffer “a flagrant denial of his rights.”

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WATERFORD (CT)
Patch

By Paul Petrone

With the heavy cloud of a state police investigation into child pornography laying overhead, today fill-in Rev. Joseph Whittel encouraged parishioners of St. Paul in Chains Rectory to pray for Rev. Dennis Carey, who resigned Thursday.

According to WFSB, state police seized a computer from the church on Thursday as part of a child pornography investigation. In a letter to parishioners, Most Reverend Bishop of Norwich Michael Cote said Carey, St. Paul’s head priest, resigned immediately following the state police action.

Sunday, mass was held at the Waterford church, with Whittel saying he would serve as priest of the church for the time being. Whittel read a letter by Cote, and encouraged parishioners to pray for Casey.

The Mass

Whittel began his mass by reading a letter by Cote. In it, Cote said the investigation was “a sad moment for all of us,” and said, “naturally, we all presume that Father Carey is not guilty of any wrongdoing and will continue to keep him in our thoughts and prayers.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Several journalists at the trial shared their own interactions with now-disgraced priests. Sometimes, we discovered ties we never knew.

I won’t forget the day prosecutors called a middle-aged man as their next witness.

The reporter sitting next to me was stunned. “I know him,” he said. They had grown up together near Norristown, he explained.

Over the next 20 minutes, the witness described being abused by his parish priest, Francis Trauger, when he was 12. He said Trauger took him to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary one weekend to play basketball and molested him in the showers.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Gegen Sexuelle Gewalt

München (dpa/lby) – Justizministerin Beate Merk (CSU)

will Sexualstraftäter mit Hilfe von erweiterten Führungszeugnissen abschrecken.

Diese können Arbeitgeber von Arbeitnehmern verlangen, die sich für Stellen mit Kontakt zu Kindern und Jugendlichen bewerben.

Merk forderte am Freitag in München, einschlägige Haftstrafen von bis zu einem Jahr sollten 30 Jahre lang im erweiterten Führungszeugnis erscheinen.

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OSTERREICH
OE24

Zwei aufmüpfigen Pfarrern wurde das Dechant-Amt vonseiten der Kirchenleitung bereits entzogen. Sowohl der Salzburger Pfarrer Josef Lehenauer (siehe Interview unten) als auch Pfarrer Peter Meidinger (NÖ) mussten ihre Posten aufgeben, weil sie der „Ungehorsam“-Initiative von Helmut Schüller angehören.

Zwar hatte Kardinal Christoph Schönborn in einem Brief an seine Mitarbeiter noch zu beruhigen versucht – „in der Kirche gibt es kein Redeverbot“ –, aber dennoch kocht die Stimmung jetzt hoch. Die Laieninitiative, eine weitere Reformbewegung neben der Pfarrerinitiative, wendet sich in einem offenen Brief an Kardinal Christoph Schönborn. In dem Schreiben heißt es, Schönborn solle dem Druck aus Rom standhalten. Die Laieninitiative findet deutliche Worte: „Wenn Sie weitergehen, vertreiben Sie Ihre besten Mitarbeiter und lösen eine neue Welle von Kirchenaustritten aus.“

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OSTERREICH
der Standard

Ungehorsam-Bewegung wächst, freut sich Landessprecher aus Oberösterreich – Mehr als 400 Mitglieder

Linz – Nach Ansicht der oberösterreichischen kirchlichen Reformgruppen geht es in der aktuellen Debatte nicht nur um den “Ungehorsam” von Geistlichen, sondern des gesamten Kirchenvolkes. Und die Bewegung wachse, berichtete der Landessprecher von “Wir sind Kirche”, Franz Salcher, in einer Pressekonferenz am Freitag in Linz. “Wenn sich bundesweit 400 Priester zusammenschließen, kriegen es die Bischöfe schon ein bisschen mit der Angst zu tun”, so Peter Paul Kaspar, Vorstandsmitglied der Pfarrerinitiative in Oberösterreich.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

01.07.2012

Von dpa

Ihm wird schwerer sexueller Missbrauch in 18 Fällen vorgeworfen: Ein ehrenamtlich tätiger Messner einer Pfarrgemeinde im Landkreis Kitzingen soll einen zwölf Jahre alten Ministranten jahrelang sexuell missbraucht haben. Nun steht er vor Gericht.

Ein ehrenamtlich tätiger Messner einer Pfarrgemeinde im Landkreis Kitzingen soll einen zwölf Jahre alten Ministranten jahrelang sexuell missbraucht haben. Der heute 30-Jährige muss sich von diesem Montag an deshalb vor dem Landgericht Würzburg verantworten.

Die Staatsanwaltschaft wirft ihm unter anderem schweren sexuellen Missbrauch in 18 Fällen vor. Druck oder Gewalt habe es aber nicht gegeben, sagte ein Gerichtssprecher. Zu den sexuellen Handlungen in der Sakristei der Kirche, der Wohnung des Angeklagten oder der elterlichen Wohnung des Jungen sei es zwischen Anfang 2004 und Herbst 2005 gekommen.

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HOLYOKE (MA)
WWLP

Published : Saturday, 30 Jun 2012

Heidi Voight

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) – It’s been an entire year since the parishioners of Holyoke’s Mater Dolorosa began protesting the closing of their church.

In recognition of the one year mark, a celebration was held Saturday night in Chicopee.

Earlier this month the parishioners agreed to leave the church building while the Vatican investigates their appeal.

But the protestors told 22News that doesn’t mean they’re giving up the fight.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

hpd Humanistischer Pressedienst 29.06.2012

BERLIN. (hpd) Bei sexualisierter Gewalt an Kindern und Jugendlichen sind die Verjährungsfristen generell aufzuheben, dafür tritt das netzwerkB (B wie Betroffene) seit Jahren aktiv ein. Das Netzwerk und Norbert Denef, sein Vorsitzender, schaffen sich auch manchen Orts unerwartet und ungewünscht Gehör. Auch in der Politik?

Die Realität

8. Juni 2012
Norbert Denef, Vorsitzender des NetzwerkB.org teilt am 8. Juni 2012 über netzwerkB und den Medien direkt per Mail mit, dass er, Denef in einen unbefristeten Hungerstreik trete um an dem „Murks mit den Verjährungsfristen“ zu rütteln. Einen anderen Ausweg sehe er für sich nicht mehr. In den vorangegangenen sechs Monaten hatte Denef Kontakt mit den Bundestags-Fraktionen aufgenommen. Zuversicht hatte sich eingestellt, die Politiker würden auf breiter Basis ein Gesetz vorbereiten, um die Täter zur Verantwortung zu ziehen, die an Kindern und Jugendlichen sexuell Gewalt ausgeübt haben und das ohne Einspruch auf Verjährung.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

Offener Brief an:

SPD-Parteivorstand
Stellvertretende Parteivorsitzende
Manuela Schwesig
Willy-Brandt-Haus
Wilhemstr. 14
1
10963 Berlin
Fax: 030 25991 119

Ihr Schreiben vom 28. Juni 2012

Sehr geehrte Frau Schwesig,

wir nehmen Bezug auf Ihr Schreiben vom 28. Juni 2012 in dem Sie uns mitgeteilt haben, dass Sie das Thema der Verjährungsfristen in der Sitzung des SPD-Parteivorstandes am 25. Juni 2012 angesprochen haben. Sie teilten uns weiterhin mit,

Zitat:

“Nach eingehender Debatte haben wir uns darauf verständigt, dass sich die zuständigen Rechts- und Familienpolitikerinn und –politiker der SPD-Bundestagsfraktion sowie aus dem SPD-Parteivorstand voraussichtlich in der nächsten Woche zusammen sezten werden, um über das Thema Verjährungsfristen bei sexuellem Missbrauch nochmals zu diskutieren.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Jeremy Roebuck
Inquirer Staff Writer

Ten states have rushed to toughen their reporting laws on child sex abuse in the eight months since Jerry Sandusky’s arrest set off a nationwide scandal.

One is conspicuously absent from that list: Pennsylvania.

And many of the state’s victim advocacy groups have worked to keep it that way – at least for now.

Amid pressure to pass headline-grabbing legislation in response to the case against the former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach and the equally landmark trial of two priests from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, child-welfare advocates have urged lawmakers to show restraint.

Many worry that in the heat of scandal, the state runs the risk of overcorrecting – of passing knee-jerk bills with requirements that would overwhelm cash-strapped social services agencies, or worse, cast undue suspicion on families and individuals tenuously accused of abuse.

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UNITED STATES
The Columbus Dispatch

By JoAnne Viviano
The Columbus Dispatch
Sunday July 1, 2012

Some Roman Catholic nuns are being compared to Martin Luther and referred to as radical feminists for their views on sexuality and the ordination of women.

President Barack Obama is being likened to Henry VIII over a contraception provision in the federal health-care law. (The British king was excommunicated from the church because of his struggles with Rome.)

And bishops are being criticized as out of touch with their flocks for upholding traditional Catholic views despite society’s shifting morality.

Theologians say the disputes have led to what could be an irreparable break between Rome and some U.S. Catholics even as the church recovers from the priest sex-abuse scandal.

“There’s a moral schism going on in the Catholic church, and the bishops are the schismatics, broken from the laity and theologians,” said Daniel Maguire, a theology professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee.Such breaks often lead to membership upticks for other faiths, he said. “As long as the bishops are behaving this way, there are going to be more Unitarians.”

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CONNECTICUT
Digital Journal

Article provided by Kennedy, Johnson, D’Elia, & Gillooly, L.L.C.

Connecticut’s Statute of Limitations allows childhood sexual assault victims to seek compensation for their emotional injuries well after the abuse has taken place.

July 01, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ — While witness testimony in the Jerry Sandusky trial and the ongoing developments in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal highlight the tragic consequences sexual abuse in childhood can have on adult victims, these cases also emphasize that justice can still be served years after abuse occurs. In Connecticut, childhood sexual abuse victims can seek civil damages for the abuse they suffered through the state’s generous statute of limitations on these kinds of suits.

How the Statute of Limitations for Civil Suits Works

Section 52-577d of the Connecticut State Statutes places a statute of limitations on the amount of time victims of child sexual abuse have to file a civil suit against their attacker or the organizations that allowed abuse to occur.

Victims have 30 years from the time they turn 18–the “age of majority”–to file a civil suit seeking damages for the emotional distress caused by the sexual abuse, exploitation or assault they suffered as children. Victims can hold responsible both their attackers and the organizations such as day care centers, churches or foster care systems that allowed the abuse to occur.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Record

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
Record Staff Writer

July 01, 2012

STOCKTON – The state’s highest court has dismissed four cases involving defrocked Priest Oliver O’Grady in a decades-long sex abuse scandal that has cost the Diocese of Stockton millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements.

O’Grady, a former Stockton priest, was deported to Ireland after serving time in the 1990s for committing sex crimes against children.

Years later, O’Grady continues to be a source of ongoing legal problems for the Catholic Church and Bishop Stephen Blaire, who joined the local diocese in 1999.

But late last week, the California Supreme Court dismissed four complaints, upholding prior lower-court decisions that found the alleged victims’ arguments did not meet legal statutes of limitations.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.