CANADA
Windsor Star
TREVOR WILHELM, WINDSOR STAR
The victims of alleged pedophile priest Linus Bastien have waited years for his judgment day in court, but fear it may never come.
After the criminal case dragged on more than four years, three men have launched lawsuits hoping to see some kind of justice before the 90-year-old priest dies.
Robert Talach with Beckett Personal Injury Lawyers said they filed civil suits out of frustration.
“Frustration with the criminal justice system which takes far too long,” he said of reasons for the lawsuits Monday at a news conference. “Delay, which in this particular case is especially problematic when the accused is approaching his 90th birthday. Frustration with a criminal justice system with myopic focus on the rights of the accused while often being blind to the plight of the victims.”
Bastien was a priest in Windsor and the surrounding area from 1951 to 1997. He faces dozens of charges including indecent assault, gross indecency, sexual assault and sexual interference against several young boys.
He is accused of sexually abusing boys while serving as a priest at St. Charles Parish in the former Township of Tilbury East, St. Mary’s Parish in Maidstone, St. Paul’s in LaSalle and St. Joachim Parish in Lakeshore.
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