By Karl Stagno-Navarra
Malta Today
January 6, 2011
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/priests-in-mssp-abuse-claim-breach-of-their-right-to-fair-hearing
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| Lawrence Grech, one of the victims of the alleged priest abuse at the Missionary Society of St Paul. |
Priests accused of sexually abusing youths file constitutional case claiming a breach of their right to fair hearing due to publicity on their case.
Four priests who stand charged of sexually abusing a number of youths entrusted in their care during the 1980s, have filed a Constitutional case alleging they were denied a fair trial due to the publicity given to their pending case.
The priests – Fr Joseph Bonnett, Fr Godwin Scerri, Fr Charles Pulis and Fr Conrad Sciberras – all belonging to the Missionary Society of St Paul (MSSP), stand charged before a criminal court with sexually abusing a number of victims at St Joseph's Home, Sta Venera.
All four were arraigned in 2003, however the case is still pending before the courts and the case is being heard behind close doors.
In the writ signed by lawyer Giannella Caruana Curran against the Attorney General, the Commissioner of Police and the Court Registrar, the priests claim they are facing a public trial through the media, due to the over-exposure of the case.
The constitutional case can be expected to delay further the hearing of the priests, which controversially is being heard in camera, contrary to usual prosecution of people accused of corruption of minors and sexual abuse.
According to the priests, their case was further prejudiced when the alleged victims announced that the Maltese church had declared their allegations were founded and that they would be sent to the Vatican for adjudication. Philip Cauchi, 40, Joseph Magro, 38, Lawrence Grech, 38, Olivier Goodram, 39 and Joseph Mangion, 37, described the letter confirming their allegations from the Missionary Society of St Paul as one step forward for their liberation.
The alleged abuse took place between the early 1980s and 1990s when the victims were aged between 13 and 16. One of the alleged victims, Lawrence Grech, now aged 31 had appeared on Bondiplus with a story of alleged sexual abuse perpetrated by at least two of the priests.
Grech graphically described how at the age of 12 one of the priests started taking liberties with him. The contact at first involved touching and friendly bites on the face. Later on, Grech alleged, one of the priests also tried to masturbate him.
Last April Pope Benedict XVI accepted to meet a number of men who were sexually abused by members of the clergy, and was reported to have cried with the victims. The event received worldwide media coverage.
Reacting to the news, abuse victim Lawrence Grech (pictured) said he felt outraged that both he and the other abused victims from the St. Joseph Home are still waiting for justice to be done, eight years on. "I revealed the abuse cases to the media after the Curia had initially ignored me, and so did the police. It was only after the revelations hit the headlines that things started moving," Lawrence Grech said.
"It is odd how in this country, you get it for not talking, and again when you talk... what I and my friends insist on is that justice is made."
Grech claimed that this recent development is "nothing but another attempt to stall the case before the courts."
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