Verdict Expected for Eric Dejaeger, Arctic Priest Accused of Child Sex Abuse

680 News
September 12, 2014

http://www.680news.com/2014/09/12/verdict-expected-for-eric-dejaeger-arctic-priest-accused-of-child-sex-abuse/

Eric Dejaeger leaves an Iqaluit, Nunavut courtroom Jan. 20, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Windeyer

A Nunavut judge is expected to deliver a verdict today in a trial of a former Roman Catholic priest on 68 counts of sex abuse against Inuit children more than 30 years ago.

Justice Robert Kilpatrick’s decision could be the final step in a legal saga that spanned two continents and tore apart a remote Arctic community.

The trial of defrocked Oblate priest Eric Dejaeger, which began last December in an Iqaluit courtroom, was marked by high emotion and lurid tales.

Witness after witness told court that Dejaeger used his position as Igloolik’s missionary to lure and trap them into sex, threatening them with hellfire or separation from their families if they told.

Several told of bestiality involving Dejaeger’s dog.

One woman testified she was duct-taped to Dejaeger’s bed as a little girl and raped.

Dejaeger’s lawyer questioned the credibility of many of those accounts.

He pointed to the length of time that had passed since the alleged offences and the inconsistencies between different accounts.

He also suggested witnesses may have gotten together to hone their testimony.

One thing that neither side questioned was the emotional pitch of the trial. It was common during the trial to hear witnesses howling and weeping outside court after their testimony.

Prosecutor Doug Curliss argued that enough common themes emerged from the testimony that the stories from the victims hold together.

He said the accusations are similar to those Dejaeger pleaded guilty to in Baker Lake, Nunavut, where he was sent after leaving Igloolik. Dejaeger eventually served a five-year sentence on those charges.

The 67-year-old priest was initially slated to face his accusers from Igloolik in 1995, but instead left Canada for his Belgian homeland. Oblate officials have said that Canadian justice officials turned a blind eye to his leaving the country.

He was eventually returned to Canada when Belgian officials realized he was living in that country illegally.

At the start of the current trial, Dejaeger pleaded guilt to eight counts of sexual assault.