SOUTH AFRICA
IOL
Melanie Peters
October 09 2005 at 05:00AM
Two men who were sexually molested by a Roman Catholic priest when they were boys say they are considering suing the church for their pain and suffering.
They and their families this week spoke out against what they said was a conspiracy of silence in the church when handling matters of sexual abuse among the clergy.
Last week Father Patrick Thornton, 76, pleaded guilty in the Wynberg Sexual Offences Court to six counts of indecent assault of two boys when he was a trusted parish priest in Green Point and a chaplain at Christian Brothers College, a church high school.
Thornton was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, fully suspended, subject to stringent conditions, for the abuse of the boys between 15 and 20 years ago. The victims, now adult men, came forward because they felt they could not let Thornton or the church get away with it.