Former Windsor priest sentenced for sex crimes

By Trevor Wilhelm
Windsor Star
May 14, 2014

http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2014/05/14/former-windsor-priest-sentenced-for-sex-crimes/

Father Gabriele Del Bianco is seen in this handout photo.

SARNIA — Deliverance from decades of guilt, anger and anguish came with the barely audible “click” of handcuffs.

Gabriele Del Bianco, 57, a sex offender and former Windsor priest, was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison. He will also be on the federal sex offender registry for the rest of his days.

One survivor of Del Bianco’s abuse clasped her hands over her face and cried – for once, tears of joy – as her former tormentor was shuffled out of a Sarnia courtroom in cuffs. She said later that watching Del Bianco in his last moments of freedom allowed her to feel something she hasn’t experienced in a long time.

“I feel free,” said the woman, whose identity is under a court-ordered publication ban. “I’ve been saying since the beginning that each step of the process was humiliating and hard, but the weight on my shoulders kept getting less as I went and now I’m done. I did everything within my power to take care of him and he’s been taken care of. So, I’m happy.

“To be able to watch him and clear that click, that was good. He’s in jail and he can’t hurt me, so I’m done.”

The former priest served in Windsor as associate pastor at St. John Vianney church and part-time chaplain at Brennan high school from 1985 to 1987. He was administrator at St. Rose of Lima in 1987 and 1988. After that he was associate pastor at St. Gregory in St. Clair Beach and part-time chaplain at St. Anne high school from 1988 to 1990.

He was also pastor at the former Sacred Heart church in Windsor from 1990 until 1994, before leaving the priesthood in 1995. Several years later, allegations of sexual abuse began to surface. He fathered a child – now in his 20s – with one of his victims during his time in the Windsor area. Testimony during the recent trial indicated Del Bianco reached a settlement for a one-time $10,000 child-support payment.

Del Bianco’s trial began last October in Sarnia for 18 sex charges involving four girls in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was acquitted of sexual misconduct charges involving two women but convicted of abusing the other two. He was found guilty in February of gross indecency and two counts of sexual assault.

Del Bianco abused girls on church property and in the basements of their own homes while their parents were upstairs making the priest dinner.

“I feel that we have all been robbed of so much joy,” the victim said Wednesday in court before sentencing. “Uncomplicated joy that comes from a world that makes sense. What Gabe has done doesn’t make sense. And, even more importantly, what God has allowed Gabe to do has left so many of us without faith.”

In handing down the four-year sentence, Superior Court Justice Joseph Donohue said he needed to send a strong message to others in positions of authority over children. He said parents take their children to church for “moral edification, not degradation.”

He also pointed to passages in scripture condemning people who mistreat children.

“This is not a new thing, to take a severe view of breaches of trust with children,” Donohue said.

Defence lawyer Andrew Bradie, who asked for a sentence of two years less a day, said he was “disappointed” with the judge’s decision.

“I’m hopeful that, to some extent, this puts behind some of the pain that the complainants have suffered,” Bradie said. “I know my client is prepared to deal with it. He is glad that this part of his ordeal is over. He will get through this, I’m confident.”

Before his sentencing, Del Bianco apologized to the two victims he was convicted of abusing and said he hoped the trial brought them closure.

“I regret deeply the pain that I have caused,” he said.

“I apologize to them for my immaturity, for disappointing them and breaking their trust in me.”

Del Bianco said he went to counselling and has left behind his “childish sense of self” and parts of himself that he “detested.” But he added that he doesn’t expect to be forgiven.

“I can’t expect that from you, but I do hope your future will be less and less overshadowed by the pain that I have caused,” he said.

The victim who spoke out Wednesday – about lost faith, emotional overeating, suicidal thoughts, paranoia and the shame and guilt that consumes her parents – said she wants to forgive him. But that is a long way off.

“I need time to feel safe and heal too,” she said in her victim impact statement. “I am hopeful that with time and support he will ask for forgiveness. I would be willing to listen. Perhaps when all is said and done, we can all find peace.”