Media Coverage of Charges Against and Sentencing of Clerical Paedophile Father Gilles Deslaurier, Priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall

November 11, 1986

12.39 EST

National general news

Priest

CORNWALL, Ont. (CP)

A Roman Catholic priest who had offered to help young men

with their sexual problems was sentenced to two years' probation

Monday after pleading guilty to four counts of gross indecency.

Under terms of probation, Rev. Gilles Deslauriers, 49, will

report to a probation officer and to Monsignor Adolphe Proulx,

bishop of Hull, Que. He will also be treated by a psychologist. 

In sentencing, district court Judge Fernand Gratton noted

Proulx's offer to watch over Deslauriers "indicates a confidence

he has in the future of this person." 

Police charged Deslauriers last July after complaints from a

Cornwall family prompted a two-month investigation. Originally,

Deslauriers faced eight counts of indecent assault and eight

counts of gross indecency in incidents alleged to have occurred

between 1978 and 1984 involving several youths. 

Court was told Deslauriers, a chaplain at a local secondary

school, had offered help for sexual problems, saying he had a

degree in psychology and philosophy. 

DROP CHARGES

 At a preliminary hearing in September, four counts of gross

indecency and one charge of indecent assault were dropped

because of insufficient evidence.

At Monday's pre-trial hearing, seven more counts of indecent

assault were dropped by Crown Attorney Rommel Masse, who

explained the charges were of a minor nature. 

Deslauriers's defence lawyer Gilles Charlebois agreed the

actions by his client were "inexcusable," but he said the acts

were of a "clinical, not erotic" nature. 

However, the judge said Deslauriers, as a Catholic priest,

had "abused the trust" the young men and their parents placed in

him.

Gratton said the young men who came to Deslauriers "believed

it was correct because a priest said it was correct." 

Masse asked for "short and sharp justice," including a three-

month jail sentence. 

But the judge said a jail term "would add little in the way

of deterrence" in this case. 

End of document.

September 17, 1986

23.22 EDT

National general news 

Priest  

CORNWALL, Ont. (CP)

   Five of 16 charges of sexual abuse laid against a Roman

Catholic priest were withdrawn Wednesday.

   The charges were dropped at the end of the third day of a

preliminary hearing held for Rev. Gilles Deslauriers because

there was not sufficient proof, Crown prosecutor Rommel Masse

told presiding provincial court Judge Claude Paris of Toronto.

 Today, after hearing final arguments, Paris is expected to

decide whether there is enough evidence to commit Deslauriers to

stand trial on the remaining seven charges of indecent assault

and four counts of gross indecency.

   Deslauriers, 49, was charged in July with eight counts of

indecent assault and eight counts of gross indecency in

connection with incidents between 1978 and 1984 involving nine

youths from Cornwall, 85 kilometres southeast of Ottawa.

   At the start of the hearing, Paris prohibited publication of

any evidence presented or the identities of witnesses.

   On Wednesday, Paris, citing a number of legal precedents,

also rejected a motion by defence lawyer Gilles Charlebois to

drop all the charges against Deslauriers.

   Charlebois had argued the charges were not specific enough.

He also noted the charge of indecent assault against males has

been repealed and no longer exists in the Criminal Code. 

 July 4, 1986

12.49 EDT

National general news 

Priest-Arrested

Espy Que 

CORNWALL,  Ont. (CP)

   Police have issued an arrrest warrant for a Roman Catholic

priest on 16 counts of indecent assault and gross indecency.

   The warrant is for Rev. Gilles Deslauriers, 49, of Lac-

Nominingue, Que. Cornwall police said Deslauriers is a priest

in Hull, Que.

   Since the investigation began on May 22, police have

interviewed nine males living in British Columbia, Ontario and

Quebec, police chief Claude Shaver said.

   The eight charges of indecent assault and eight of gross

indecency relate to a six-year period ending in 1984 and involve

men aged 17 to 21 at the time. Deslauriers was then a priest at

the Nativity Parish Roman Catholic Church in Cornwall.

End of document.