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	Elderly Priest Found Not Fit to Stand Trial By Keith Lacey NorthernLife.ca [Canada] April 19, 2006 http://www.northernlife.ca/policeBeatArticle.asp?28id2-pn=&view=109655 A Catholic priest charged with molesting a Sudbury altar boy more than 30 years ago was found unfit to stand trial following a brief hearing late last week at the Sudbury Courthouse. Outside the courthouse, Richard Brazeau, 52, a man who says he was sexually molested during a single incident by Father Benoit Fortier, also known as Bernard Fortier, who is now in his 90s, asked other victims of sexual abuse by priests to come forward. Brazeau said he suffered emotional scars for many years until he finally got counselling three years ago. Benoit's lawyer Denis Michel presented a doctor's letter to the court and assistant Crown attorney Julie Lefebvre didn't oppose Michel's request Fortier be deemed unfit to stand trial. Justice William Fitzgerald agreed to Lefebvre's request to stay the charges filed against Benoit in relation to one count of sexually assaulting Brazeau while parish priest at a Sudbury church in 1963. Fortier has late-stage Alzheimer's disease and couldn't understand the charges against him or properly advise counsel, Michel told the court. Fortier was convicted in 2003 of sexually assaulting a young boy back in 1987 near Sturgeon Falls. At a court hearing in North Bay in June 2003, Fortier pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault and one count of gross indecency. Michel submitted a doctor's report at that hearing explaining Fortier was suffering from the early stages of dementia or Alzheimer's disease. The presiding judge sentenced Fortier to a daily curfew and ordered him to not have any contact with his victim and not be alone with anyone under the age of 16. Brazeau has been married three times, abused drugs and alcohol and has has a poor relationship with his children. "It's only after three years of therapy that I'm starting to have any kind of relationship with my kids again," said Brazeau. "I know there are others out there who are hurting...I'm hoping they might come forward and seek help." Brazeau said he fully expected the court to rule Fortier not competent to stand trial and that doesn't bother him because he knows Fortier is a very feeble and elderly man, but he wanted to tell his story to try and help other victims. "I'm trying to help others who were victims...that's my greatest hope," he said.
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