Daily Mail
May 4, 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1383629/Shockwaves-sent-Catholic-Church-bishop-GUILTY-importing-child-pornography.html
A Roman Catholic bishop has been found guilty of importing child pornography in a case that has sent shockwaves through Canada and the Church.
Bishop Raymond Lahey was stopped at Ottawa Airport after border guards found 588 images and dozens of videos of naked boys as young as eight on his computer and phone.
He was also carrying a bag of personal sex toys. He was found guilty on the charge today.
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| Bishop Raymond Lahey was stopped at Ottawa Airport after guards found 588 images and dozens of videos of naked boys as young as eight on his computer and phone and a bag of personal sex toys. File phoeto |
It is extremely rare for a bishop to be found guilty of a criminal charge. The case will also likely act as a test of the Vatican's new strict sex abuse laws, which it approved last year.
The bishop’s crimes are especially shocking for Canadians because Lahey was the public face of an historic apology and $15million (?8million) settlement for victims of sexual molestation by a priest in his diocese.
Pope Benedict even asked top church officials in Canada to do what they could to alleviate the distress caused by the arrest of such a senior figure.
Lahey was charged after being intercepted at Ottawa Airport while returning home from a trip to Europe in September 2009.
Police claimed the 70-year-old former head of the diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, was targeted after being evasive during questioning and refusing to make eye contact with border guards.
Further investigations revealed extensive travel since 2005 to countries notorious as sources of child pornography, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Spain and Germany.
A forensic examination of Lahey’s computer and several memory sticks revealed hundreds of files and around 60 videos, some of them showing boys between the ages of eight and 12 engaged in sexual acts.
He was also in possession of numerous texts featuring themes of humiliation, degradation and slavery of young boys.
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| Intervention: Pope Benedict is believed to have asked top Church officials in Canada to do what they can to alleviate the distress caused by the his arrest |
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| Lahey, here in 2009 with lawyer Michael Edelson, had videos showing boys ages of eight and 12 engaged in sexual acts and texts featuring themes of humiliation, degradation and slavery of young boys |
After some of the images were discovered Lahey initially denied having an interest in child pornography, but told the officers that ‘he was attracted to males aged 20 to 21.’
The native of Newfoundland and Labrador resigned from the Antigonish diocese the day after he was charged but before his crimes became public.
Lahey today pleaded guilty in an Ottawa courtroom to importing child pornography but told a judge he was not guilty of possessing child pornography for the purpose of distribution.
The case is highly significant because law enforcement agencies have long looked the other way in prosecuting sex-related offences where high-ranking church officials were involved.
It will also act as a test of the Vatican's stringent sex abuse code, approved last year.
The new rules take away protection for bishops and cardinals who abuse minors - allowing them to be investigated and punished in the same way as Catholic priests.
Father Francis Morrisey, a professor of canon law at the Roman Catholic University of Saint Paul in Ottawa, claimed it was highly unusual for a bishop to face criminal charges.
‘Pornography was only formally added to the church laws in May 2010 and with this case, it shows how seriously those decisions have been taken,’ he said.
The Vatican claimed today it was considering ‘appropriate disciplinary or penal’ action against Lahey: ‘The Catholic Church condemns sexual exploitation of all kind, in particular when minors are targeted,’ a statement said.
While the church awaits his sentencing before continuing with its own trial, survivors of sexual abuse believe the hearing could be used as a precedent internationally.
‘We hope that the Lahey case is a sign that the era of deference by civil authorities toward bishops may be coming to an end,’ said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org.
Lahey, who is facing a mandatory 12-month minimum prison term, voluntarily entered custody today. The images and videos will be viewed by the judge in private before official sentencing.
In addition to the criminal charges, Lahey also faces accusations in a civil suit of sexually abusing an orphanage resident in the early 1980s.
The Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's, Newfoundland was closed in 1990 after it was revealed that staff had systematically abused some 300 residents over several decades.
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