Court Confirms Prison Sentence in St Joseph Home Abuse Case
By Karl Stagno-Navarra
Two priests sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment after court of criminal appeal confirms sentence. A court of criminal appeal presided by Judge David Scicluna has confirmed a 2011 sentence against two priests accused of the sexual abuse of minors in their custody. They were escorted to prison on a six-year sentence for priest Charles Pulis and five years for Godwin Scerri. In handing judgement, Mr Justice Scicluna said that although Pulis and Scerri were considered to be 'father figures' for the boys at St. Joseph Home in Hamrun, "the fact remains however, that corruption of minors is a serious and ugly crime which could leve serious effects, be they physical or psychological on whoever experienced them." Judge Scicluna said that the witnesses in the case had been "credible" even though he found "blatant contradictions" by witness Lawrence Grech in a number of instances. "However the court is not ready to speculate on the motivations behind reports of abuse, because such reports were corroborated by a number of other victims." Scicluna said the court was convinced of the first court's convictions, and the repeated abuse on the victims. "It was a system of conduct... there is no doubt that a number of lewd acts were committed on a number of passive victims, and cases were not time-barred except for isolated cases." The judge also said he felt there was no need to adjust any jail terms, unless they were less or more than what was permitted at law. Scicluna threw out the appeal from Pulis and Scerri, that they were advanced in age and that Pulis suffered from psychological problems, having previously cited that even his family relatives had committed suicide. Pulis had one of the charges dropped after it emerged it was time-barred, while Scerri was acquitted of one case of abuse on one of the victims. Both of the accused originally stood charged together with a third, who passed away eight months before being handed judgment in August 2011, aged 63. The case was made public when Lawrence Grech, one of the alleged victims, claimed he had been sexually abused whilst residing at St Joseph's Home in Santa Venera in the late 1980s. Police investigations into allegations of paedophilia by three members of the Missionary Society of St Paul took the country by storm in 2003. Fr Joseph Bonnett, Fr Godwin Scerri and Fr Charles Pulis faced accusations by 11 victims, who were then aged between 13 and 16, were resident at St Joseph's Home in Santa Venera in the late 1980s when the abuse took place. Pulis was jailed for six years over nine of the cases opened against him, out of the 11 that he faced. Scerri was jailed for five years after he was found guilty of abuse but not for rape. 2011 judgement In August 2011, Magistrate Saviour Demicoli referred to a number of testimonies that were delivered over the course of the eight-year court case. He cited the testimony of a St Joseph's home care worker who stumbled upon Pulis and one of the victims, and testified that he had seen Fr Pulis in boxer shorts and an undershirt on a bed with the victim lying on top of him. The care worker had also testified that Fr Pulis's genitalia were erect and exposed, and how Pulis began talking to the care worker seemingly unaware of the fact. The care worker testified also that Pulis had pushed the victim off him when the care worker had walked in. The victims also skyrocketed to prominence when they were able to meet privately with the Pope Pope Benedict XVI in April 2010 and had expressed his "shame and sorrow" and promised "effective measures" to protect young people in the future.
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