NEW JERSEY
Dail Record
BY PEGGY WRIGHT
DAILY RECORD
The former pastor of St. Virgil's Roman Catholic Church in Morris Township was handcuffed and sent to the Morris County jail this morning for 180 days for battering his wife in 2004 and touching his son in a sexual way.
William L. Winston, 52, was confronted in a courtroom this morning by his wife, Janet, and his four children, who all emotionally said they wanted answers to why he served parishioners so well but treated his family with such contempt.
"We're very confused by this gigantic claim of alcoholism," Janet Winston said, referring to her husband's excuses that alcoholism accounted for his years of abuse. She said she tried to hang on to her marriage for years but was beaten down by 2004 when Winston knocked her to the floor of the rectory, kicked her and damaged her jaw.
"I wish it could have ended differently, but I held on till the bitter end," Janet Winston said.
Turning to face his wife and children in the courtroom, William Winston apologized repeatedly, saying he only meant to love his family and he realizes how he has failed as a father and husband.