Sex abuse by minister led to suicide attempts: civil claim

CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on November 22, 2014

A statement of claim filed against a former minister and the United Church of Canada alleges he was a child sexual abuser years earlier than he admitted to when he was convicted in the 1980s.

The woman’s name and community is protected by a Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador order.

In the 1960s, Stephen James Collins was a practising United Church minister in this province.

The Jane Doe civil suit alleges that Collins’ sex abuse of her not only ruined her childhood, but led to a life of physical and mental pain, an impaired ability to gain an education and establish financial well-being, substance abuse, humiliation, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and problems trusting other people and sustaining intimate relationships.

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