Dejaeger Investigation Continues; Indictment Not Yet Filed

Nunatsiaq News
February 6, 2012

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674dejaeger_investigation_continues_indictment_not_yet_filed/

A team of five RCMP members continues to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct in Igloolik against disgraced priest Father Eric Dejaeger, the Crown prosecutor said in court in Iqaluit Feb. 6.

This means the RCMP’s investigation into Dejaeger won’t be finished until a May 7 court appearance by Dejaeger in the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit, where the Crown is expected to file a formal indictment.

Dejaeger currently faces up to 39 criminal charges, most alleging the sexual molestation of children.

More charges could flow from the continuing investigation.

The list of allegations Dejaeger faces involves sex offences alleged to have occurred in Igloolik against children between 1978 and 1982.

RCMP in Igloolik originally charged Dejaeger with six counts of indecent assault in 1995.

After serving out a five-year prison sentence on convictions related to sex charges involving children in Baker Lake, Dejaeger fled Canada for Belgium in 1995 and missed a scheduled court appearance on those charges.

Police in Belgium arrested Dejaeger after Belgian authorities discovered he was living there illegally. He had given up his Belgian citizenship in 1977 to become a Canadian citizen.

Belgian officials sent him back to Canada in early 2011, when he was brought to court to face the outstanding charges.