EDINBURG (TX)
The Monitor
December 29,2004
James Osborne
The Monitor
EDINBURG — The Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office underwent renewed criticism Tuesday for its handling of sexual abuse cases involving priests from the Diocese of Brownsville.
The local chapter of Call to Action, a Chicago-based group of self-described progressive Catholics, staged a press conference outside the Hidalgo County courthouse calling for District Attorney Rene Guerra to extradite the Rev. Basil Onyia, the Nigerian priest accused of sexually abusing a mentally retarded teenage girl in San Juan. Onyia fled to his native Nigeria in 2001, shortly after a warrant was issued for his arrest by the Pharr Police Department.
The girl’s family filed a lawsuit against the diocese, which was settled out of court.
"We … are here to express our continuing outrage and dissatisfaction with the lack of efforts to prosecute and hold perpetrators of several sexual abuse and sexual exploitation cases," said CTA President David Saavedra in a written statement.
Posted by kshaw at December 29, 2004 07:23 AM