FRANCE
Montreal Gazette
AP
Thursday, September 22, 2005
A Canadian priest was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison for raping a young member of his Normandy parish - the second conviction for the clergyman, who served time for similar crimes in Quebec.
The trial of Denis Vadeboncoeur rattled the community where he had served for more than a decade and sparked outrage over how he was hired and why his past conviction was kept secret.
Vadeboncoeur, 65, moved to France in January 1988 after serving part of a 20-month sentence in Quebec. He had pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual abuse and one of sodomy against four teenage boys here.
He confessed in testimony Monday to repeatedly sexually abusing a boy who was under 15. The abuse occurred from 1990 to 1993, while Vadeboncoeur was a priest in the village of Lieurey.
Vadeboncoeur's face tightened when the sentence was pronounced but he did not speak.