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Priest Plied Boys with Music, Cigarettes and Alcohol, Court Told By Bob Vaillancourt Sudbury Star May 9, 2009 http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1561344 A former alter boy told the trial of Roman Catholic priest Bernard Cloutier on Friday that he woke up in bed one day with the priest lying on top of him. Cloutier, now 68, has pleaded not guilty to 16 sex charges involving alleged incidents with five young males from 1970-1983. The charges consist of seven counts of gross indecency, seven counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault. During that period, Cloutier served at various French-language parishes in communities across the North, including Espanola and Sudbury. The boy, now an adult male, testified he and a friend would often visit Cloutier in the church rectory to listen to music on the priest's stereo system. "He had a nice stereo system. It was new and shiny. It was very clean sounding." The man, who was between 12 and 14 years old at the time, said Cloutier would also allow him to smoke at the rectory, with Cloutier providing the cigarettes. "I looked forward to going to the rectory." Cloutier was "was like a big brother to me," said the man, who cannot be identified by virtue of a court order. "I trusted him. I thought he was God. He was a best friend." Then, one weekend Cloutier invited the man and another alter boy to a sleepover at the rectory. After some drinking and smoking, the priest told the two boys that he only had two beds so one of them would have to sleep with him one night and the other the second night. He ended up being the one to sleep with the priest the first night, he said. But because of the consumption of alcohol he doesn't remember actually taking off his clothes or getting into the bed. "I was wakened up with his penis in my mouth," he said. He pulled away and Cloutier tried to reinsert the penis through the boy's clenched teeth. "He kept rubbing his penis on my mouth. I was frozen I couldn't move." The man broke down and cried while testifying about the incident. "Every time I tried to move he would turn over and start fondling me, kissing me." The man said he didn't immediately jump out of bed because "I was afraid. I didn't know what he (Cloutier) would do. I had this larger older man doing things to me I had never felt before. I was ashamed. I was shocked." He remained at the rectory that day and told no one of the incident, the man testified. That night, he and his friend again drank and smoked with Cloutier. "I wanted to drink and party," said the man, suggesting he was hoping the alcohol would dull his pain. But, during the evening, he and his friend ended up laying on Cloutier's couch. Each had a hand on the other's penis with Cloutier clutching each of their hands in his, said the man. "He would start us masturbating one another." Eventually, he passed out and woke up the next morning on the couch while Cloutier was next door saying mass, the man testified. After the mass was finished, Cloutier drove the two boys home. The man said he didn't tell his parents until days later, when Cloutier phoned his home wanting him to go to the rectory. The man testified he told his mother he never wanted to have anything to do with Cloutier again. When she asked her son about the it, the woman said the boy simply said, the priest "had sex with me." The trial is continuing. |
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