Sex Charges Stayed against Priest in Cornwall, CBC News, May 13, 2002

Sex Charges Stayed against Priest in Cornwall

CBC News
May 13, 2002

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2002/05/13/cornwall_peds020513.html

CORNWALL, ONT. - A Roman Catholic priest won't go to trial on charges of sexual misconduct after a judge in Cornwall stayed the charges on Monday, blaming in part a crusading former police officer for delaying the trial.

Justice W. Dan Chilcott put a stop to the proceedings, saying Charles MacDonald had been waiting too long, that the Crown hadn't met MacDonald's reasonable expectation of a speedy trial and timely verdict.

Charles MacDonald

First charged in March 1996, the 69-year-old MacDonald faced 13 counts of sex offences involving seven teenaged boys in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

But Chilcott said he had to balance the needs of society for justice with the rights of the accused.

* FROM JUNE 8, 2001: Sexual predator abused boys as young as 9

After six years and 50 court appearances, Chilcott said MacDonald's rights were not being served.

The end of MacDonald's case signals the impending flame out of a once explosive story that alleged a ring of pedophiles operating in Cornwall.

Three police investigations over the past decade produced 115 charges against 15 people, which some people, including a member of the provincial legislature, said was only the tip of the iceberg.

But the investigation ended last summer without turning up either an organized ring of pedophiles, or a cover up of such a ring.

The case has produced one conviction, against bus driver Jean-Luc Leblanc, 56, who pleaded guilty last June to 12 attacks on 10 boys.

* FROM AUG. 23, 2001: Cornwall pedophile investigation ends

Others have either died awaiting trial or had their charges dropped.

Chilcott laid a large portion of the blame for MacDonald's trial delays on Perry Dunlop, a former Cornwall police officer who sounded the alarm on the allegations.

He accused Dunlop of purposeful deceit and of obstruction for not sharing evidence with investigators.

There is one man still facing a charge related to the Project Truth investigation. That trial is set to begin in June, but prosecutors might reconsider the case in light of Monday's decision.