BishopAccountability.org
	Chatham Woman Receives Record-Breaking Settlement from Diocese of London By Erica Bajer Chatham Daily News May 7, 2009 http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1557885 A Chatham woman abused by pedophile priest Charles Sylvestre has received what is being described as the largest settlement of an individual sexual abuse case in Canadian history. Details of the settlement between Lou Ann Soontiens and the Roman Catholic Diocese of London will be made public tomorrow during a press conference in London. In a news release, Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers said that after five years of childhood sexual abuse, a related abortion and decades of living with the effects of abuse, Soontiens has received her full measure of justice. The case, which she launched three years ago, was settled within days of the scheduled start of the trial. Sylvestre was convicted in 2006 of indecently assaulting 47 girls between 1954 and 1985 while serving as parish priest in churches in Chatham, Pain Court, Sarnia, London and Windsor. He was sentenced to three years behind bars. He died less than six months into his prison term.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.