CONNECTICUT
The Day
By Karen Florin
Published 08/08/2012
Hartford – Lawyers for a New London woman say she will tell a Superior Court jury next month that Father Thomas W. Shea, who is now deceased, molested her when she was 12 years old.
The now 49-year-old woman is prepared to say that Shea forced her to perform a sex act inside the choir loft at St. Joseph’s Church in New London one day and that he also fondled her and kissed her.
Her attorneys, Robert I. Reardon and Kelly E. Reardon, introduced their client only as “Jane Doe” Wednesday as jury selection got under way in Hartford before Judge Marshall K. Berger Jr. She was in court with her husband and sister.
The woman is suing the Diocese of Norwich, Monsignor Thomas Bride and retired Bishop Daniel P. Reilly for lost earnings and medical expenses, past and future. She has undergone years of treatment and still requires care for severe depression and other psychological problems, according to her attorneys. She is seeking at least $1.1 million, according to testimony.
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