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	'Rot in Hell,' Victim of Sex Abuse Tells Priest By Andrew Seymour Ottawa Citizen April 20, 2011 http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/hell+victim+abuse+tells+priest/4644674/story.html A sexual-abuse victim told his priest and former teacher to "rot in hell" Tuesday after the now-elderly man was found guilty of indecently assaulting him and his teenage brothers. "Perhaps one day, your Lord will forgive you," the emotional victim told 81-year-old retired priest William Joseph Allen. "I haven't." The victim was 16 years old in 1974 when Allen, a teacher at St. Pius X High School, first began pinning him down in a wrestling move before rhythmically thrusting his pelvis into the boy's leg. One of the assaults occurred in the priest's room at the high school, where Allen slipped out of his priest clothes and into a white T-shirt and trousers to assault him. The victim's older brother was assaulted every Wednesday after choir practice in the rectory of St. Monica's church for five years beginning in 1970. A third brother was also offered meals in exchange for about a dozen of Allen's wrestling matches in the church rectory, although no charges were laid in relation to those offences. "I was taught by the clergy about the concepts of 'good' and 'evil,' 'right' and 'wrong.' I was taught, and I believed, that priests were good," said the victim, who broke down sobbing before reading his statement. "When you wilfully violated that trust, Mr. Allen, you displayed such a shameless hypocrisy that you -a Catholic priest -became a grotesque, disgusting example of evil," he said. "You robbed me of my faith, you robbed me of my self-esteem and you robbed me of my dignity," said the victim, describing feelings of rage, guilt and self-loathing that led him to entertain thoughts of suicide. "I am gratified to know that you will go to your grave with the knowledge of your wrongs, and that at some time, either in this world or the next, you will confront your maker and answer for your appalling depravity." Allen, who has thinning white hair and sat in a wheelchair clutching a cane, was silent and appeared unmoved as his victim spoke. The frail and ailing Allen, who did not contest the allegations, received a nine-month conditional sentence for the crimes, including 4½ months of house arrest. It was a sentence Ontario Court Justice Hugh Fraser said he was receiving only because of his advanced age. Fraser, who described the victim's impact statement as one of the most powerful and eloquent he had heard, declared Allen a sex offender, ordered him to provide a DNA sample and placed him on probation for a year. Crown prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham said the Crown would have sought a "significant" period of jail time for Allen, if not for his physical condition. The court must denounce his conduct in the strongest terms possible, Cunningham said. "It is a violation of trust not only to the complainants, the victims, but also the community that looked up and held in high regard Father Allen," Cunningham said. Allen said nothing as he was wheeled out of the courthouse and helped into a waiting car, shaking his head slightly when asked if he had anything to say. Allen is one of two priests from St. Pius X charged with sex offences; a preliminary hearing for a second priest, Kenneth O'Keefe, is set for later this year. Contact: aseymour@ottawacitizen.com
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