A surprise here….
Father Mark Sullivan’s next court date is 13 August 2012: 10 am, courtroom #2, Brantford, Ontario courthouse. I am told by the court that he will be entering a guilty plea. I questioned the information and was told that yes, he will be pleading guilty at that court appearance.
According to the 18 May 2012 Brantford Police Service press release:
A Brantford Pastor has been charged following an assault investigation
On April 13th, 2012, the Brantford Police received a complaint of an assault against a young girl. It is alleged that the assault took place sometime between September 2011, and October 2011, at St. Basils Church, Brantford. The young victim alleged that the accused grabbed hold of her arm, pinned her down in a chair and prevented her from leaving. The victim was not injured.
Mark .L. SULLIVAN, 49, yrs, of Palace Street has been charged with Assault…
That is all I know of the charges.
I was anticipating another court date, and then another and another. I did not for a moment anticipate and am surprised by this news. I am sure this is a relief for all concerned.
Enough for now,
Sylvia
*By any reasonable standard this charge against this priest is in all likelihood a complete overreaction – of course such is the climate and the pendalum swing.
If perchance the girl was running toward a ten story window to throw herself down to her own demise, the priest would be excoriated for neglecting to take action to restrain her. What a wacky world we live in.
A wacky world indeed MJ….wacky enough to be pleading GUILTY to a scenario such as yours!!! OR, maybe he is just taking it on the chin for the “greater good”. OR, maybe he is just GUILTY of the crime as charged.
Whatever will happen to Father Sullivan once he is a convicted criminal?
John MacDonald
*When you say you were told by the court that he was entering a guily plea, do you mean someone who was in attendance, Sullivans defence lawyer or actually someone from the court? I would find it a little unnerving that members of the court or the Crown are announcing defendants pleas before they are entered.
I mean someone at the courthouse told. My understanding is that it is listed as such on the docket.
The police report states Fr. Sullivan grabbed the arm of a girl and sat her down. That’s called assault by our justice system. Elementary teachers I know say they have to do such a thing every year. Anyone who calls Fr. Sullivan a criminal has never touched a child, right?
The parents of this child should be ashamed of themselves. Is it any wonder many of the younger generation can’t handle discipline, rejection, or authority? Any wonder why the Occupy movement began?
*Glen, you must be a troll, right?
I guess clerics miss the good old days when they could break sticks across children’s backs or beat the pants off them or pummel them to submission and then have parents do the same thing to them when they got home for causing trouble in a school or church.Better yet lets go way back and keep them in residential schools and not allow the little devils to speak their own language..Oh when yuou could repress without consequence wouldn’t that be great for you nutbars. Oh dear, children with the same rights as adults what has become of our society? Listen fool..lay a hand on my child and I would have you charged. That parent should be proud that they have stood up to a morally inferior person and that they protected their kid from a person who has no right to restrain anyone for that matter.. I have never had the need to hit my child but wanted to several times because parenting is a tough gig 24/7 You people on the other hand only have them for 6 hours and you have to either physically restrain them or get them on some medication so that they can be sheep. Notwithstanding a lot of good teachers do not need to do such things. Kids move around and are unruly get over it and keep your damn hands in your own pockets.Lets occupy the church and shoot you people to the curb.
I heard from one of the priests of his Diocese that he behaved this way with the girl was because she and another girl got in to the confessional and put on Stole and trying to act as priest and penitent. I do not know how far it is tru. In any case he should have been careful .