By Andrew Galea
di-ve news
October 30, 2006
http://www.di-ve.com/dive/portal/portal.jhtml?id=254554&pid=1
Gozo, Malta (di-ve news)-- October 29, 2006 -- 1630CET--The Gozitan priest accused of sexually abusing underage boys will be called to Miami to give testimony in court once the case goes to trial.
The legal team representing an unnamed 41-year-old man who has filed a $10 million civil lawsuit against the Miami Archdiocese has confirmed its intentions to call Fr. Mercieca to the witness stand.
The lawsuit charges the Miami Archdiocese with negligence in allowing Fr. Mercieca to have had "unfettered" contact with young boys despite having a "history of sexual perversity and inappropriate contact with children".
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The plaintiff claims Fr. Mercieca lured him to the top of the church's bell tower as a 12- to 13-year-old altar boy, and performed oral sex on him despite protestations from the boy.
The lawsuit also alleges the Miami Archdiocese had previous knowledge that Fr. Mercieca had sexually abused other boys before and within the timeframe it is claimed that he abused the plaintiff.
It also alleges that the Miami Archdiocese destroyed a number of incriminating documents and files with the intention of concealing the sexual abuse of minors by Mercieca and other priests.
Fr. Mercieca's lawyer Alfred Grech, talking to the Malta Independent On Sunday, described the second allegation against his client as having been "made up" and said that the Miami Archdiocese had "courted disaster" when it "gave an open invitation to any crook to come forward" with their claims of sexual abuse by Fr. Mercieca.
The fact that the lawsuit is in the so-called discovery stage means that the plaintiff's lawyer is looking for evidence because he does not have any as yet.
He described the case as being "garbled" in many respects, not least of which was the fact that plaintiff has not been identified. "This is one aspect of the crazy situation of the American legal system, where a person is allowed to file a lawsuit without identifying himself," Dr. Grech added.
The plaintiff is only being identified as John Doe No. 26 on the basis that the alleged victim was a minor in 1978.
Dr. Grech told the Malta Independent on Sunday that he questions the reasoning behind the anonymity since the plaintiff is no longer a minor.
Asked how his client is holding out under a continued barrage from the press and being in the international spotlight, Dr. Grech said, "I have found him to be much stronger than I would have thought."
Fr Mercieca's admission led the Miami Archdiocese, whose authority he still falls under, to bar him from celebrating Mass, administering the sacraments and wearing priestly clothes.
Up to then, Fr Mercieca, despite being retired, celebrated Mass regularly in Victoria, Gozo.
Dr Grech's statement stressed how his client "believes that nothing that happened between him and Mark Foley, some 40 years ago, could provide solid grounds for legal action against him".
In a press statement issued on Friday, Dr Grech aggressively denied the accusations levelled against his client by his second accuser.
Likening the allegations to character assassination, the lawyer stressed that his client "emphatically denies the accusation made against him" and said the allegations were "at best a figment of the imagination and at worst a malicious fabrication".
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