Attorney General in Dominican Republic over Child Abuse Cases

The News
May 29, 2015

http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/208518,Attorney-General-in-Dominican-Republic-over-child-abuse-cases

Polish General Prosecutor Andrzej Seremet (L) speaks next to his Dominican counterpart Francisco Dominguez Brito after signing an agreement of judicial cooperation in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 26 May 2015. EPA/Orlando Barri

Seremet spoke with victims of Father Wojciech G. (full name witheld under Polish privacy laws), who was sentenced by a Polish court to seven years in prison in March 2015 for abusing children in both the Dominican Republic and Poland.

Besides the prison sentence, the clergyman has been ordered to pay a combined sum of PLN 155,000 damages to the victims, divided between six minors in the Dominican Republic and two in Poland.

Seremet's counterpart Attorney General Francisco Dominquez Brito had visited Poland in December 2014 prior to the trial.

He commented then “that we expect a just, high sentence which will satisfy public opinion in the Dominican Republic.”

Father Wojciech G. had served for close to a decade as head of a parish in the highland town of Juncalito. He was in Poland when allegations emerged against him, and he declined to return to the Carribean island. However, owing to mounting evidence, he was arrested near Krakow in February 2014.

Parallel case

Seremet also discussed with Brito a parallel case that is being handled by the Vatican involving former papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic Jozef Wesolowski.

Wesolowski, who was defrocked as an archbishop in June 2014, stands accused of abusing boys during his tenure as nuncio on the Caribbean island.

The Vatican is handling the case, and the Dominican Republic forwarded files to the relevant authorities. (nh)