NEW BEDFORD (MA)
The Herald News
Gregg M. Miliote, Herald News Staff Reporter 07/16/2005
NEW BEDFORD -- After hearing an astoundingly emotional impact statement from the victim, and later determining that Father Donald Bowen is still minimizing his behavior, Superior Court Judge Gary Nickerson sentenced the Diocese of Fall River retired priest to two years behind bars and 10 years of probation Friday.
Bowen, 67, an Attleboro native, pleaded guilty to a two-count indictment charging him with indecent assault and battery of a person under 14 and unnatural and lascivious acts on a person under 16.
The plea came three years after he was indicted and more than three decades after he systematically ruined the life of a young Bristol County girl by consistently forcing her to perform oral sex on him.
The victim, Catherine Murphy, 50, was in court Friday and tore through a lengthy impact statement that left many of her supportive friends and family members in tears. She gave reporters permission to use her name.