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	2 Priests Jailed over Child Abuse The Di-Ve August 2, 2011 http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-police-busts-ultra-orthodox-cult-suspected-of-abusing-women-and-children-1.376578 Two priests were jailed today after they were convicted of sexually abusing boys at the St Joseph Home in Santa Venera around 20 years ago. Fr Charles Pulis was jailed for 6 years while Fr Godwin Scerri was jailed for 5 years by Magistrate Saviour Demicoli, who also ruled that the case should no longer remain behind closed doors. The defence had asked for the case to be heard behind closed doors, prompting the victims to declare that this helped it ask certain questions without public scrutiny. Court proceedings had started in 2003 over the case, which concerned the abuse of boys who lived at the Santa Venera home in the early 1990s. Another priest facing charges over the case, Fr Joseph Bonett, succumbed to bone cancer earlier this year, at the age of 63. Public attention was drawn to the case when the victims started giving interviews to the media, with one of them – Lawrence Grech – publicly identifying himself to speak up on behalf of the group. Others subsequently followed up on Mr Grech's footsteps last year. The case even attracted the attention of the world media last year when the victims were given a private audience by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Malta. The victims addressed the press after the sentence was read out, with Mr Grech expressing his satisfaction with the sentence and his gratitude towards the media for helping draw public attention to the case. Mr Grech said that he could not forgive the perpetrators as they did a lot of harm – pointing out that a fellow victim had succumbed to a drug overdose while another committed suicide – and urged other people who had been through similar situations to come forward. The Church's response team had started its own investigation when the case ended up in court, but this is yet to be concluded. The victims told the press that they were now expecting this process to be concluded shortly, hoping that the outcome would see the 2 perpetrators removed from the priesthood immediately. The 2 priests, who were represented by lawyers Giannella Caruana Curran and Joseph Giglio, intend to appeal. Contact: editorial@di-ve.com
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