Northern News Services Online
Published Monday, August 22, 2011
Jeanne Gagnon
Northern News Services
NUNAVUT
A former Catholic priest has had five new sex-related charges added to the 28 he was already facing dating back to time he spent in Iglulik in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Eric Dejaeger appeared via video-conferencing at the Nunavut Court of Justice on Aug. 15 in relation to the new charges – three charges of indecent assault, one charge of sexual assault and one charge of sexual touching. He will next appear in court for his preliminary hearing in early 2012.
Dejaeger was deported back to Canada from Belgium in January. He had been living in Belgium since 1995 but was expelled from that country for living there illegally.
Dejaeger was arrested upon arriving in Canada on a 2002 warrant for three charges each of buggery and indecent assault for incidents alleged to have occurred between 1978 and 1982 in Iglulik.
Since his arrival in Canada, 22 more charges have been brought forward – 13 counts of indecent assault, two counts of sexual intercourse, one count of failure to appear in court, two counts of assault, and three counts of use of violence to prevent reporting of suspicious activity.
He was convicted on eight counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault in Baker Lake in 1990 and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Actually, Eric Dejaeger is, unfortunately, still very much a Roman Catholic priest. That aside, there is a discrepancy in the number of charges laid 15 August 2011. A previous article indicated three new charges on that date. This one indicates five. As it stands Dejaeger is now facing somewhere between 30 and 33 charges.
As we saw with Hod Marshall, it gets difficult to keep tabs when additional charges are added. I will check this out this week to see if I can get the present count squared away.
That said, congratulations to all those who have summoned the courage to come forward. Good for you!
I encourage all those who have allegations of sex abuse against Eric Dejager to contact their local police.
Amazingly enough, he is still a priest…. now, what can be done about that…
How about letters to the Vatican asking that he be laicized/defrocked? Here are the mailing and email addresses for the Pope:
His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI
Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City
Email address: benedictxvi@vatican.va
His holiness. What a crock of …. Lol. What do these people think they are going around I’n there white gowns and dresses what are they thinking there god Pfffffffffff what ever. And as far as it goes for the pope, he’s just another Jo blow if u ask me . What’s the religion coming to anyway . I’m ashamed to say that i was even catholic at one time. Now , I’n with the god of my understanding I’n nature mountains, and i sure as he’ll won’t find god I’n no stupid catholic church .
Haha. The pope, i hope they lock that up I’n jail aswell especially if they get the truth on what he knew and had covered up .