Testimony from brothers about accused archbishop ‘unreliable:’ defence lawyer

CANADA
Brandon Sun

By: Chinta Puxley, The Canadian Press
Friday, Nov. 1, 2013

WINNIPEG – A lawyer defending an Orthodox archbishop against allegations he sexually assaulted two brothers almost 30 years ago says there is not enough evidence to convict.

Seraphim Storheim is accused of sexually assaulting two pre-teen boys when they visited him on separate occasions in Winnipeg in 1985. The men have testified Storheim walked around naked and asked them to touch him sexually.

In his closing arguments Friday, defence lawyer Jeff Gindin told Justice Christopher Mainella the brothers’ testimony isn’t enough to convict Storheim beyond a reasonable doubt.

“The evidence is unreliable, it’s inconsistent and, in many ways, it’s simply illogical,” Gindin suggested.

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.