UNITED KINGDOM
Independent
Harriet Agerholm @HarrietAgerholm
A retired vicar who abused a choirboy more than 35 years ago has been jailed for four years after his victim gave evidence through eye-tracking technology that translated his blinks into words.
Cyril Ashton Rowe, 78, was convicted at Bournemouth Crown Court in February of three counts of indecent assault against the same victim between 1979 and 1981. He was sentenced at the same court to four years in prison.
His victim – who was abused between the ages of nine and 11 – died of motor neurone disease on the day the verdict was returned.
He died before he could be informed of the jury’s conclusion, although he had achieved his dying wish of giving evidence against Rowe, the Crown Prosecution service said in a statement
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