CANADA
CBC News
Kristy Nease, CBC News Posted: May 02, 2017
An Ottawa courtroom erupted in cheering and applause Tuesday when a judge found an Ottawa priest not guilty of sexually assaulting a then 14-year-old boy in 2008.
“This is not a cheering section,” Justice Martin James cautioned the dozens of people gathered to support Stephen Amesse, who in 2014 was charged with several counts of sexual assault and sexual interference involving a child under 16.
Amesse had so many supporters there that, just before the verdict was read, Crown attorney Farah Rupert had to clear some space for the complainant’s family to sit.
James told court Amesse met the boy — who cannot be identified — at Guardian Angels School, which is part of the Holy Spirit Parish in Stittsville, when the boy was in Grade 5.
Court heard the boy was big for his age, had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and had problems with the other children. Their family was active in the church and attended mass regularly.
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