Former Ontario Priest Acquitted of Sex Charges

By Neil Bowen
Sun News
February 24, 2014

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/02/20140224-115432.html


Former Ontario Catholic priest Gabriele DelBianco was convicted Monday on three of 18 charges related to sexual misconduct involving teenage girls in the 1980s.

The convictions -- one count of gross indecency and two counts of sexual assault -- relate to two of four complainants, who are now in their 40s.

A pre-sentence report was ordered and DelBianco, 57, remains out of custody and will be sentenced May 14.

The key issues in the case were possible consent to sexual activity and the reliability of evidence.

DelBianco pleaded not guilty to 16 offences involving four teenage girls during the 1980s.

A one-week Superior Court trial started Oct. 16 and included testimony from the four women. DelBianco chose not to testify.

The number of charges was increased to 18 to coincide with testimony from the four women regarding the dates of the alleged offences.

One woman said that as a teenager she felt the outgoing and popular priest was like a rock star.

Some of the women testified that they had sex with DelBianco, with one saying she believed her teenage sexual encounters with him would lead to them being a couple.

One woman testified she had no conscious memory of any sexual abuse and underwent therapy after learning of a lawsuit against DelBianco and the Catholic Church by other women.

The therapy was paid for by the Catholic Church, she said.

Her memories continued to get clearer, she said, after her initial statement to the OPP in 2011 when she recalled details of one alleged encounter.

Another of the four women testified DelBianco had helped pay for a Florida trip with her family.

Some of the women said he made them feel special as teenagers because he chose to spend time with them alone. Two testified that he had claimed to be involved with the CIA.

One woman testified that DelBianco started a romantic relationship with her when she was 15 or 16 and he was a 29-year-old priest.

She claimed he fondled her in his car, but they did not have sex until she was 20.

By the time she was 21, she and DelBianco had become a secret couple, she said, noting she stayed at his church residence three to five times a week and he fathered her child.

In the mid-1990s the woman ended all contact with DelBianco through a legal agreement which included a one-time $10,000 child-support payment.

DelBianco left the priesthood in 1996 after serving at churches in Wallaceburg, Ont., and Windsor, Ont.