LONDON (CANADA)
London Free Press
February 19, 2019
By Jane Sims
The sentencing hearing for a former Anglican priest convicted of sexually abusing Indigenous boys almost four decades ago has been delayed.
Victim impact statements had been scheduled for Tuesday morning in the Superior Court of Justice in the case of David Norton, 72, who was convicted of three counts of indecent assault between Jan. 1, 1977 and Jan. 3, 1983 and one count of sexual assault between Jan. 4, 1983 and Dec. 31, 1984 after a trial in November.
The four victims were all altar boys at St. Andrew’s Anglican church at Chippewas of the Thames, where Norton had been a popular rector. They all came from disadvantaged families on the reserve.
The men testified that they and their families saw Norton as a beloved friend and spiritual guide. Norton took the boys on weekends and had them sleep over at his London apartment and his Belmont property. He took them to movies, bowling, parks and, for some of them, trips to the Bahamas, where he had served before returning to Canada.
The boys, now men, testified at trial that they were often given chocolate milk or Pop Shoppe pop before bed time. Norton would sleep with them. They believe they were drugged.
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