Another 63 charges have been laid against Father Paul-Andre Harvey
Harvey, a priest with the Diocese of Chocoutimin Quebec, was first charged with two counts of gross indecency and three of indecent assault in January. At that time there were three complainants all of whom alleged abuse by Harvey when they were under the age of ten.
Today an additional 63 were laid. There are now at least 35 complainants.
I have posted two articles in relation to the new charges, one in English and the other a google translation of a French article (the original French attached).
23 May 2012: Quebec priest hit with 63 sex charges
23 May 2012: Father Harvey is facing 35 new charges (google translation with original French)
As you can see, there are minor discrepancies between the two articles. According to the English only article most of the complainant are female, while the google translation of the French indicates all complainants are female.
Furthermore, according to the English article, the complainants were between the ages of 5 and 12 when they alleged the abuse transpired, while according to the google translation, they were between the ages of 6 and 19.
If there are errors in the google translation which account for these discrepancies please let me know so that I can correct.
It seems that the allegations stem from the years 1963 to 1995. Father Harvey was ordained June 1962.
Would those of you who are bilingual please keep tabs on this for us? I see no mention of specific court dates and would certainly like to keep track of these charges as they wind their way through ‘the system.’ If anyone can find a court date listed anywhere please either post it as a comment or email it to me at cornwall@theinquiry.ca
Finally, I must commend all of you who found the courage to go to police with your allegations. Good for you! You are not alone, and, as you now know, were not, as you may well have thought and feared for so many years, the only one. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.
******
Updates on court-dates:
(1) Father Piotr (Peter) Sanczenko
Trail date was to have been set yesterday. The case has been put over to 17 September 2012 to set a trial date (10 am, Chatham Ontario courthouse)
As I blogged when I first posted the news, I shudder at the very thought that this man might have grounds for an 11b stay based on violation of his Charter rights to a speedy trial.
Father Boudreau will be sentenced at 2 pm, Monday 28 May 2012 in court room # 1, the Guelph Ontario courthouse (59 Carden St.) If you live within driving distance and are free to attend, mark your calendar now. As always I encourage those who can do so to attend. It is important the we all become familiar with the legal system, and it is important that the victims know that there are people who support them.
There is yet another courtdate next week which will be of interest to those who are within driving distance of the Campbellton courthouse in New Brunswick. At 1:30 pm, Monday 28 May there will be testimony from the probation officer who compiled the per-sentence report for Father Yvon Doiron
Doiron pled guilty to four counts of fraud totally more than $116,000. He was to have been sentenced in March, however, his lawyer objected to the pre-sentence report claiming it “painted an unflattering portrait of Mr. Doiron”! So, here we are. Next Monday the probation officer who authored the report will be put on the stand and interrogated.
I hope some of you who live in the area can get there to see and hear first-hand what happens with this .
There are two more courtdates next week, but both are pre-trials and not open to the public (Fathers Jean-Claude Lefebvre and Linus Bastien)
Enough for now,
Sylvia
