Vancouver Sun
November 8, 2010
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Priest+charged+with+multiple+assault+charges+back+court+January/3794942/story.html
| Demonstrators march in Montreal in April 2010 in support of people who were sexually abused as children by members of the Catholic Church clergy |
A Quebec priest facing multiple counts of sexual assaults against 11 boys who attended a private Catholic school in the 1980s will be back in court early next year.
Raymond-Marie Lavoie, 70, was a teacher at the Seminaire St. Alphonse, in Ste.-Anne-de-Beaupre, just outside Quebec City, when the assaults are alleged to have taken place.
Lavoie was expected to enter a guilty plea Monday.
However, the Crown prosecutor said the defence asked for more time to continue working out a plea agreement.
The case was put off to January 31 for the preliminary hearing, but defence lawyer Serge Goulet told the judge his client could be back in court before that if a deal is reached.
Lavoie was first arrested in December 2009 and faces charges of sexual assault, indecent assault and gross indecency against a victim who was 12 years-old at the time of the alleged crimes.
Surete du Quebec launched an investigation and eventually found other alleged victims: all boarders at the college in the 1970s and 1980s, who were between the ages of 12 and 15 at the time.
Aside from the criminal accusations, Lavoie is facing a potential class-action lawsuit.
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