MALTA
Times of Malta
Saturday, June 16, 2012 by
Matthew Xuereb
A defence lawyer for one of two defrocked priests appealing a jail term for sexually abusing teenage boys three decades ago yesterday cast doubts on the veracity of the allegations, claiming the person behind the case did it for the money.
Lawyer Giannella de Marco said Lawrence Grech, who was appearing in the media on behalf of all the victims, was only after compensation.
She was making submissions before Mr Justice David Scicluna in the appeal filed by former priests Godwin Scerri and Charles Pulis, both members of the Missionary Society of St Paul, who were sentenced to five and six years in prison respectively for sexually abusing 11 young boys in their care in the 1980s and 1990s.
Mr Pulis and Mr Scerri, aged 64 and 75, were defrocked last year following independent Vatican investigations.
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