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	Boys Recanted, Court Told By Bob Vaillancourt The Sudbury Star May 12, 2009 http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1563977 Roman Catholic priest Bernard Cloutier was never charged over allegations of sexual improprieties with young boys made in the 1980s, because the boys who made the complaints recanted a week later, the police officer who headed up the investigation at the time told the priest's trial Monday. Cloutier, now 68, pleaded not guilty to 16 sex charges involving alleged incidents with five young males from 1970-83. 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. Retired Greater Sudbury Police Insp. Fern Kingsley testified Monday he was a sergeant with the police when he and his partner were dispatched to the rectory of l'Annonciation church on Northway Avenue to investigate a complaint of sexual assault in April 1983. When he walked into the rectory, he was met with four to six male youths all between the ages of 10 and 13 years. They were all red in the face as if they had recently engaged in some physical activity. Also in the rectory was Cloutier and a large "Texas Mickey-" sized bottle of alcohol that was about half empty. One of the boys stepped forward and told him that he had been sexually assaulted by the priest, said Kingsley. He asked the priest to leave and spoke to each boy separately. Five of the six boys all said they had been sexually assaulted by Cloutier, he testified. But because the boys had all obviously been drinking, he chose not to fully interview them at the time. Instead, he made arrangements for them to be driven home and to meet with some of them and their parents the following week. At the meeting, there was a definite tension, testified Kingsley. "It felt like there was a challenge between the boys and the parents. I think there was a struggle (by the parents) to accept that this may have happened," he said. At that meeting, he interviewed each boy in the presence of their parents and all told him nothing had happened. "They recanted everything that had been said to me" at the rectory. "They said they had been drinking and nothing had really happened." At the time "we had no evidence" and therefore no charges were laid, said Kingsley. Earlier in the day, Sgt. Linda Delwo, who is the current investigating officer on the case, testified she was handed the file in May 2007 when one the victims called police to formally file a complaint. A week later, she received another call from another victim and as a result of those interviews, as well as conversations with a number of other people, she made the decision to charge Cloutier. He turned himself in on June 26 of that year and police issued a press release about the charges. As a result of the media coverage, two more complainants came forward. It was through them, she learned of a fifth complainant, Delwo said. This additional information resulted in more charges for Cloutier. As a result of the new complaints, he was formally charged in January 2008. The complainants in the rectory in April 1983 are the Crown's main witnesses in the current trial, which began last Monday and is scheduled to wrap up this week. Prosecutor Diana Fuller completed presenting evidence in the case Monday morning with Kingsley being the first witness called by defence lawyer Gregory Ellies. Five complaints have testified of sexual contact they had with the priest at the Windy Lake campground, at a parish rectory where Cloutier was hosting a party and at a weekend sleepover at another rectory where Cloutier told two complaints they would have to take turns sleeping with him because there weren't enough beds.
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