Former Local Priest Duarte Remains in Jail, Windsor Star, November 19, 2009

Former Local Priest Duarte Remains in Jail

Windsor Star
November 19, 2009

http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Former+local+priest+Duarte+remains+jail/2243024/story.html

WINDSOR, Ont. — A former local Catholic priest charged with molesting teenage boys at the mission he founded in Haiti will remain in jail for another week while a justice of the peace decides whether to release him on bail.

A former local priest, John Duarte, 43, is charged with nine counts of sexual exploitation involving boys aged 12 to 17 in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and the tiny fishing village of Labadie.

John Duarte, 43, is charged with nine counts of sexual exploitation involving boys aged 12 to 17 in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and the tiny fishing village of Labadie. Hearts Together for Haiti, a charity Duarte founded, operated schools, a health clinic and a sponsorship program for impoverished families. Canadian law allows citizens to be prosecuted in Canada for sex offences against children committed elsewhere.

Duarte was arrested Oct. 20 in the Dominican Republic where he had been living. Canadian authorities picked him up there Oct. 26. He has been held at Windsor jail throughout his bail hearing, which was held Nov. 13 and adjourned to Thursday.

Again Thursday, the courtroom where his bail hearing was held was filled to capacity with more than three dozen supporters. Some family members and friends, and at times Duarte himself, wept during the testimony.

All testimony and evidence presented at the hearing is subject to a publication ban.

Duarte was a popular parish priest at three area churches — Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Windsor, St. Gregory the Great in St. Clair Beach and St. Michael's in Leamington.