By Trevor Wilhelm
Canada.com
September 23, 2006
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?
id=81911c97-9abf-4284-96da-075052267ed4&k=45791
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Retired priest Rev. Charles Sylvestre leaves the Chatham-Kent Courthouse in this file photo. Photo by The CP / Diana Martin |
Chatham, Ont. - The sentencing hearing for a retired Catholic priest, who has confessed to sexually abusing 47 girls, came to an abrupt halt Friday because he may be mentally unfit to face criminal proceedings.
The judge hearing the case ordered a psychiatric assessment to determine if Charles Henry Sylvestre, 84, is fit to stand trial after this lawyer made the surprise revelation.
If the court-appointed psychiatrist finds Sylvestre unfit, he would likely walk free and the criminal case would grind to a halt.
Sylvestre pleaded guilty in August to charges of indecent assault for sexually abusing 47 girls in southwestern Ontario parishes from 1952-86. Court was scheduled Friday so about half of the women could give victim impact statements before a sentencing hearing next month.
But court was adjourned after defence lawyer Andrew Bradie applied for an assessment to determine if Sylvestre was unfit to stand trial.
Bradie said he became concerned after Sylvestre's sister, who lives with the retired priest near Windsor, Ont., expressed concerns about the man's mental state. The defence lawyer hired a psychiatrist who found Sylvestre doesn't have the mental capacity to understand the criminal charges and what is happening in court.
The psychiatrist found the retired priest is confused and disoriented, Bradie said. Sylvestre also has impaired short-term memory and trouble with abstract reasoning and language.
The court-appointed psychiatrist will make a separate assessment.
Some of the women who were in court Friday expressed dismay at the turn of events. A few continued to give their victim impact statements to each other and the media at the courthouse.
"I felt dead inside, like my soul had been murdered, touched by the father of death himself. Father forgive him for he knows not what he has done," one woman told the group.
Sylvestre is to return to court Oct. 6.
Under the Criminal Code, a person declared unfit to stand trial would be subject to an absolute discharge unless they were deemed a significant threat to the public. If so, a judge could order a conditional discharge or have the person placed in a psychiatric facility.
If in future the person became fit to stand trial, they could be returned to the court for the proceeding.
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