Lawyers Appeal for Other Sudbury Victims of Father Marshall to Come Forward

Sudbury Star
March 29, 2012

www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3517666

Father William Marshall.

[with video]

The sexual abuse of students decades ago at St. Charles College by a Roman Catholic priest is "the white elephant in the room in Sudbury" and must be aired publicly, says the lawyer representing victims of the disgraced clergyman.

Father William Hodgson (Hod) Marshall, 89, is serving two years in Kingston Penitentiary after pleading guilty in June 2011 to 17 charges of indecent assault, six involving Sudbury men.

Some of those men are now seeking justice from authorities they say knew about the abuse they were subjected to and did nothing to stop it.

Rob Talach, of Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers in London, announced Wednesday that four civil lawsuits have been launched against Marshall, the Basilian order to which he belongs and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie.

The men have also named the Sudbury Catholic District School Board and Bishop Ronald Peter Fabbro in their suits, in which they are seeking damages of more than a $1 million each.

Talach and two men whom Marshall admitted to indecently assaulting addressed reporters Wednesday at a news conference at the Radisson Hotel.

The men, and at least one other plaintiff in the audience, were there for more than "just the announcement of more litigation," said Talach.

They are looking for "pieces of the puzzle of Father Hod Marshall," said Talach.

The priest may have been convicted criminally, but "the totality" of what went on at the Catholic boys' school in the 1960s and 1970s has never been revealed.

Marshall served as priest and educator for 21 years in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, so Talach speculated hundreds of students, and their parents, "may have been told by their sons of Marshall's abuse."

Marshall taught at St. Charles from 1961 to 1970, during which time at least two parents complained to school and Basilian officials their sons were abused. At the time, St. Charles was an all-boys schools, although it is co-ed today.

Marshall was transferred from St. Charles in 1970, but returned three years later as principal, serving another five years at the school.

In 1978, he was transferred to St. Mary's College in Sault Ste. Marie where he was principal until 1985. Talach said no victims are known to have stepped forward in the Sault.

At least 13 civil lawsuits have been filed against Marshall.