Sexual Abuse Support Group in Windsor Says Convicted Priest Should Go to Jail

By Luke Simcoe
The Metro
March 5, 2013

http://metronews.ca/news/windsor/583461/sexual-abuse-support-group-in-windsor-says-convicted-priest-should-go-to-jail/

William Hodgson Marshall (left) and his lawyer head to court in Ontario

When the verdict came down in the trial of a former Windsor priest who abused 19 people dating back to the 1950s, Brenda Brunelle could no longer contain her emotion.

“Mercy for an old man?” she shouted at the departing judge. “What about the young children, what about their mercy?”

Rev. William Hodgson Marshall pleaded guilty Monday to abusing two young boys in Saskatchewan in the 1950s and 60s. He is currently on parole after being convicted of sexually abusing children while teaching at schools in Windsor, Toronto and Sudbury.

The latest charges earned the 90-year-old former priest six months of house arrest followed by a lengthy probation.

Brunelle, who runs the Windsor chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), described the sentence as “very disappointing.”

“Those poor victims in Saskatoon received no justice and no compassion from the court system,” said Brunelle, who claims to have been molested by a Catholic priest when she was 13.

“We heard more compassion about Hodgson Marshall getting a sore toe in jail during his previous conviction.”

Brunelle feels the court spent more time weighing the impact of a jail sentence on the aging priest than they did addressing the harm suffered by his victims.

“The only support they received was from the huge mass of supporters who showed up to the demonstration,” she said.

Between 70 and 90 people attended a march outside the courthouse, carrying signs with slogans such as “Stop the secrets” and “Sex crime = real time.”

Protestors march outside a Windsor courthouse on March 4, 2013 to demand that Rev. William Hodgson Marshall serve jail time for molesting young children. (Handout/Brenda Brunelle)

Sparing Hodgson Marshall jail time, regardless of his age, sends the wrong message, Brunelle said, especially at a time when organizations like SNAP are encouraging the Catholic church to be more aggressive in dealing with abuse.

“Silence must be shattered, action must be taken, and this man must be de-frocked,” she said.