More Charges Filed against Catholic Priest

Western Star
July 17, 2012

http://www.thewesternstar.com/News/Local/2012-07-17/article-3033166/More-charges-filed-against-Catholic-priest/1

A Roman Catholic priest who already has a date set in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador for more than 60 sex-related offences had seven more charges filed against him Tuesday.

George Ansel Smith, 74, was not in provincial court in Corner Brook for his first appearance on the latest charges.

His lawyer, Tom Williams, waived his client’s right to a preliminary inquiry and elected to have his client tried by judge alone in the higher court.

The seven new charges will be called again when Smith is arraigned on the other charges in Supreme Court in Corner Brook in September.

The most recent charges include counts of gross indecency, indecent assault and unlawful assault with intent to commit an indictable offence.

All of the charges involve young boys and date back as far as the late 1960s. Most of the offences took place in western Newfoundland communities, although some of the newer charges allege incidents in Nova Scotia.