CANADA
Brandon Sun
By: Kent Driscoll, APTN, The Canadian Press
Tuesday, May. 27, 2014
IQALUIT, Nunavut – The trial of a former Roman Catholic priest charged with 68 counts of sex abuse against Inuit children more than 30 years ago has wrapped up in Nunavut after weeks of lurid testimony and high emotion.
Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss summed up his case against Eric Dejaeger on Tuesday, the day after defence lawyer Malcolm Kempt did his best to shroud it in doubt.
“These people are victims, just not of Eric Dejaeger,” Kempt told Nunavut Justice Robert Kilpatrick.
During the trial, witness after witness told court that Dejaeger used his position as an Oblate missionary to lure and trap them into sex, threatening them with hellfire or separation from their families if they told.
He used the promise of food on some, court heard. On others, he used force. Court was told assaults took place in Dejaeger’s bedroom, the mission’s confessional and in his lap while other children played or coloured a few metres away.
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