“now is the time to come forward”

I received a copy of the following letter which is apparently circulating amongst former students of the various Basilian-run schools where Father Hod Marshall taught.  It is an excellent letter with timelines, allegations and information not previously in the public domain. 

Perhaps those who attended one of those schools in Toronto (St. Michael’s College School), Windsor (Holy Names HS and Assumption College School), Sudbury (St. Charles College School), Sault Ste. Marie (St. Mary’s College HS), Saskatoon (St. Thomas More), Houston (St. Thomas HS) could email the text to former classmates?

Check the Father William Hodgson Marshall page for new information regarding timelines and locations .  I am adding them as they become available.

This is the text of the letter:

______________________________________

Please read the following and pass it along to as many people as you can.  This is not junk mail or spam but a matter of utmost seriousness and importance.  You are reading this because you may have had contact with, or may know someone who had contact with the Basilian priest Fr. William Hodgson (Hod) Marshall.  The man is a sexual molester of children.  This is not an accusation or a claim but a fact.  This message would not have reached you if there was any doubt of that fact.  I trust I need say nothing further to convince you to read all of the following.

Here is some history of Hod Marshall’s whereabouts and positions over the years to assist in determining who should be aware of his activities.  A few dates may be off a year or two but this is the best documentation we have currently available.

2010:              Charged in Windsor, Ontario with sexual abuse of a minor.

1997/98  –     Current:  Basilian Centre retirement home of some sort in downtown Toronto presumably in close proximity to their other properties and St. Basil’s church.

1990 – 1997:  St. Lucia doing missionary work and running or establishing a school.  Likely would have been principal of this school.

1985 – 1989:  Principal of Holy Names High School, Windsor, Ontario

1981 – 1985:  Principal of St. Mary’s College High School, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

1980/81:         Principal of St. Charles’ College School, Sudbury, Ontario

1970s:             Teacher and Principal at St. Charles’ College School, Sudbury, Ontario

1960s:             Possibly teacher and/or basketball coach various years at St. Charles’ College School in Sudbury

1959:               Teacher, St. Thomas More College School, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Late 1950s:     Teacher at St. Thomas High School, Houston, Texas

1954 – 1956:   Teacher and basketball coach Assumption College School, Windsor, Ontario

1950 – 1954:   Teacher and basketball coach St. Michael’s College School, Toronto, Ontario

1951:                  Ordained

Here are some of the facts regarding Hod Marshall that are either officially recorded or strongly confirmed and waiting to be revealed.

•           May, 2010:  Charged in Windsor with one count of sexual abuse of a child in the early 1980s.  Retained prominent defense lawyer Andrew Bradie who also defended Rev. Charles Sylvestre (found guilty of 47 counts of sexual abuse of girls aged 7 to 15 between 1954 and 1986).

•           May, 2010:  Remanded in court for appearance on June 02.  Story published in newspapers across Canada including: Windsor, Sudbury, Montreal, Regina, Vancouver, Sault Ste. Marie and Calgary.

•           June 02, 2010:  Court date postponed to July 14, 2010 presumably to deal with new victims having come forward subsequent to the publication of the newspaper stories.  One victim is from the early 1950s and the other from the late 1980s.

•           Has been confirmed as a “known sexual predator and molester” by students while at St. Michael’s College in Toronto early 1950s.  Students have confirmed the existence of a “protected list” of students who were not to be sexually abused.  Presumably anybody not protected was free to be molested.

•           Confirmed sexual abuse of two students while teaching at Assumption 1954-1956.

•           Confirmed sexual abuse of three students while principal at Holy Names 1985-1989.

•           Confirmed sexual abuse of one youth while principal at St. Mary’s College.

•           Confirmed sexual abuse of one student while principal at St. Mary’s College.

•           Confirmed sexual abuse of at least one student while at St. Charles’ College.

•           Confirmed that there are currently men in counseling in the year 2010 who were abused by Hod while at St. Michael’s.

•           Suspected connection with at least one suicide of former student.  (Name, time period and high school withheld out of respect.)

•           Sent for treatment as a sexual molester in the Washington D.C. or Boston area by the Basilian Order in the year 1997 or 1998 under the guise of treatment for cancer.

•           Left St. Lucia missionary school abruptly and never returned to the country.  (Draw your own conclusion!)

•           Sent to Houston in the 1950’s – location known among the legal community dealing with sexual abuse to be a “treatment centre” for sexually deviant priests and religious.

•           Sent to Amherstburg (St. John’s church) in the summer of 1955 for recovery from “nervous exhaustion” at 32 years of age.  Draw your own conclusions again!

•           Had use of a Basilian camp property outside of Sudbury in the 1970s where he could take students, players or family friends for weekend retreats/getaways.  Known to promote nude saunas and skinny-dipping in the lake.

•           Sued for sexual abuse in 2002 in Sudbury Small Claims Court.  Found guilty and damages awarded to victim.  Case was subsequently appealed but never appeared in court and no further information was ever revealed.  Once more, draw your own conclusions.  The case was neither dismissed nor overturned just …. disappeared.

•           Known to sexual abuse boys in return for positions on his high school basketball teams.  Particularly liked to “check their muscles”.

•           Known to both the Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury police departments as being associated with many stories, rumours and accusations of sexual abuse over many years.  Investigated in both cities without charges being able to be made partly due to reluctance to put victims on the stand who had become drug addicts, petty criminals, mentally unstable or alcoholics because of the abuse they suffered.

•           Upon being informed of the investigation into his actions by the Windsor Police Department he responded “That may very well be.  I’ve done many bad things in my life.”  No denial of sexual abuse of a minor was offered.

These are the things that are known to date.  Experts in the study of sexual predators have predicted that abuse such as this would have gone on uninterrupted over his entire adult life!  That means there are many more details, instances and victims yet to be revealed.

Please, if you are reading this, and you know anyone who at any time had or may have had contact with Hod Marshall through any of the schools listed or in any other way through the Basilian order, camps, basketball, missionary work, it is of great importance that this information be passed along.  This must be spread to every single person who may have been a victim of this man.  Pass this along or speak to any person you may remotely consider to have a connection to him or to know someone who may have a connection.  It does not matter if you have not spoken to this person in thirty years even.  Everyone must know.

Do not limit yourself to people you feel could be victims as there is absolutely no way to know who was abused.  It is for each person to decide on their own what course of action they wish to take.  But if anyone else knows anything or was a victim, now is the time to come forward and let it be known.  As a victim, your identity does not have to be revealed.  What must be revealed is the extent, scope and duration of the abuse that took place.  If you have any information to add, you need only contact your local police department and advise them charges are already filed in Windsor and you want your information included and investigated if need be.

Hod Marshall should not face one count of sexual abuse of a child, not even three.  He should face a charge for each and every young man he molested over fifty to sixty years.  He should face dozens, even hundreds of charges.  Please do your part and ensure every former student of these schools, their siblings, their parents and/or children knows of these crimes.  Yes, his molesting even carried from one generation to the next; he molested even the children of his former students.

This is asked of you because it is the right thing to do, it is the least that can be done for his victims, and it will help prevent future victims.

Much information can also be gained at http://www.theinquiry.ca/wordpress/