Behaviour with boys not appropriate, priest says

CANADA
Times Colonist

Louise Dickson , Times Colonist December 20, 2012

Warning: This story contains graphic details.

Father Phil Jacobs’s trial for sexual offences against youths from the St. Joseph the Worker parish in Saanich has been adjourned until January.

Final submissions will be made Jan. 8 and 9 at his judge-alone trial in B.C. Supreme Court.

Jacobs, 63, who was parish priest at St. Joseph’s from 1997 to 2002, is charged with four offences against three youths. The offences include sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference with a person under 14 and sexual touching. The incidents are alleged to have occurred between September 1996 and June 30, 2001.

On the stand this week, Jacobs denied the charges against him. During cross-examination Wednesday, he conceded that his behaviour with two of the youths was not appropriate.

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