Eric Dejaeger found guilty of 24 out of 68 charges
CBC News Posted: Sep 12, 2014 3:00 AM CT, Last Updated: Sep 12, 2014 8:33 AM CT, Source - CBC News
Former Catholic priest Eric Dejaeger leaves an Iqaluit courtroom in January 2011 after his first appearance for child sexual abuse charges in Igloolik dating back to the 1970s. (Chris Windeyer/Canadian Press)
A Nunavut judge has found Eric Dejaeger guilty of 24 out of 68 charges dating back to his time as a Catholic priest in Igloolik, Nunavut.
Dejaeger, 67, already pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent assault.
Dejaeger pleaded not guilty to the 68 other charges relating to allegations of sex crimes against children in Igloolik three decades ago.
He will be back in court for sentencing Jan. 19.
In his written decision, Justice Robert Kilpatrick noted that the quantity of evidence in the case had been substantially weakened by the passage of time.
The trial was marked by high emotion and lurid tales as more than 40 complainants testified.
Witness after witness told court that Dejaeger used his position as Igloolik's missionary to lure and trap them into sex, threatening them with hellfire or separation from their families if they told.
Dejaeger's lawyer questioned the credibility of many of those accounts, but the Crown argued that enough common themes emerged from the testimony that the stories from the victims hold together.
Dejaeger's trial began last November.
Since then there have been two lengthy adjournments and the number of charges has gone up and down as new counts were added and others dismissed.
The trial wrapped up in May and Justice Robert Kilpatrick reserved his ruling. He apologized at the time for the delays.
Dejaeger was sentenced to five years in prison in 1989 for sexual assaults that took place in Baker Lake, Nunavut. In 1995, Dejaeger left Canada for Belgium shortly after charges were laid against him in Igloolik. An international warrant for his arrest was issued in 2001.
He was arrested by Belgian authorities in January 2011 on immigration charges and returned to Canada.
<cite class="story-source">With files from The Canadian Press</cite>
Source - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...68-charges-1.2763590
