By Charlie Brett
eFluxMedia
November 14, 2007
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Nun_Pleads_No_Contest_to_Allegations_of_Sex_Abuse_10624.html
A septuagenarian Roman Catholic nun pleaded no contest Monday to indecent behavior with a child for alleged sexual abuse of two boys while she was principal and teacher at a Catholic school in Milwaukee in the 1960s.
 |
Norma Giannini, 79, is accused of having repeatedly assaulted two male students at St. Patrick School in the 1960s, while she was principal and teacher there. A criminal complaint filed by the Milwaukee County district attorney's office asserts that the abuse included numerous sexual encounters with Giannini, including intercourse, and occurred in several locations, including a convent and a classroom, reports the New York Times.
The two victims are now men in their 50s and have chosen to reveal their names publicly. James St. Patrick, now 53, and Gerald Kobs, now 55, attended the hearing Monday in Milwaukee.
The two men talked to the Associated Press about the burden their secret has been for decades and the relief they feel, now that they are seeking justice.
St. Patrick said that the trauma of the sexual assault led him to alcohol and drugs abuse, which lasted some 35 years for him. He and Kobs "built up the courage over the years" to come forward, he told the AP. Kobs confessed his relief at the nun's plea. "It's very hard to describe. It took so long," he said. "It's close to the end for us, and I can't wait for sentencing."
Giannini faces a maximum 20 years in prison when sentenced Feb. 1.
Sister Giannini is apparently the first nun accused of sexual abuse to face criminal charges, according to the Times; the paper quotes Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a group that compiles reports about abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.
The nun has been under close observation and separated from minors since the early 1990s, when St. Patrick and Kobs first reported the abuse.
Giannini, a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, worked in Illinois between 1970 and 1994. Sister Betty Smith, regional president for the Sisters of Mercy in Chicago, told the wire service that the nun received extensive counseling at a St. Louis treatment facility after the order "learned of the situation" during the 1990s.
She retired from active work five years ago, because of poor health. She lives with other Sisters of Mercy in a Chicago suburb.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.