Another clerical fugitive, – one who, despite a Canada-wide warrant issued for his arrest in 2004, and knowledge of the Diocese of London, Ontario of the serious sex allegations agianst him, managed to re-enter the country and the London Diocese in 2013.
The name of Nigerian priest Father Father Anthony Onyenagada has been added.
I see no talk of pushing for his extradition?
There is more to add on the page – will carry on this evening.
*****
Don’t forget: serial molester Paul Leroux is in court tomorrow in Regina, Saskatchewan. He wants to appeal his conviction. The Crown wants to appeal his sentence. Please, if you can get there, do so.
Pack the courtroom!
18 February 2015: 10 am, courtroom #7, Saskatchewan Court of Appeal (2425 Victoria Avenue, Regina, Saskatchewan)
Please keep the victims in your prayers
Enough for now.
Sylvia
I am not sure if the court room will be packed, but I can assure you there will be some people there to support any and all victims that attend. Also to be there to support the crown in there application. More tomorrow.
Just a Victim:
Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me (and probably to others who read this). A family member was abused by Leroux. I attended the Inuvik trial.
His victim blaming statements in the Beauval court-case make it abundantly clear that he is as arrogant, defiant and God-forsaken as ever. Today’s application is just further proof of an unchanged heart and spirit.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Dear 1yellowknife:
You are most welcome.
He is not the one who abused me, but I do know how important it is for victims to be supported through out all parts of the process of the healing journey.
I feel the pain of those who walk the path and I am more that honoured and humbled to walk it with them.
Just arrived home after the appeals. Once I am able to catch my breath I will post.
The judgements have been reserved with no date given of when they will be rendered.
Looking forward to hearing the news. So glad you were able to make it!
It was a enlightening experience. Here is the break down as we understood it. I hope that this helps in some small way for those who have suffered at his hands.
My thoughts go out to all victims of sexual abuse, but today those especially who were abused by Paul Leroux.
There were two of us who sat through the proceedings. I will start by saying that we were asked by the crown why we were there and we responded to support the victims who were not able to be there today. We were also asked by the court reporter so she could report to the justices. So we did our best to represent the victims so they are not forgotten.
Mr. Leroux did continue to use the same tactics as before, blaming the victims. Indicating that they should have come forward before, or they had heard the news reports from his other trial and fabricated what happened. He also continued to use the Saskatoon choir as being false. He indicated that since some information was not accurate all information from those witnesses should be discredited. He used the passage of time as being a violation of his charter rights. He introduced what he saw as fresh evidence in the area of a picture and identification of a person in that picture being inaccurate.
The crown was prepared and took the time to set the context of how residential schools for First Nations lead to vulnerable people and how Mr. Leroux would then be in a position of trust. She took time to go through the trial Judges areas that she agreed with. She then went through things that the crown believed the trial judge erred. This included serious nature of abuse, credibility since Leroux had assaulted others he may have abused more. Leroux had indicated that he had been publicly shamed and even if that is true it should not be used to reduce his sentence. Trial Judge indicated that Leroux took responsibility for the offences when in fact he had not and has yet to take responsibility for the offences. That was clear to us hearing him speak. The trial judge did not take coercion by Leroux when he manipulated the children by supplying them alcohol and showing them pornography.
The trial judge looked at other Saskatchewan cases:
Principles – 3 years for any sexual assault, does not have to be penetrating and is higher when children involved.
Judge says 3 years is normal without taking factors into consideration. Judge said major sexual assault should be 3 years for each individual. Trial judge gave 6 months we think is what was said for any case that did not have penetration.
Crown worked it out that according to law the sentence should have been 25 years!
The judge came up with 17 years, but reduced it to 3, but this is not proportional to the gravity of the offences.
Judge did not consider the gravity of offences to be enormous and victim impact statements need to address this. The crown stated that 3 years not enough for the gravity of offences.
Near the end of the day pretrial custody was brought up. No one could find the reference to this and Mr. Leroux was asked how long he had spent in pretrial custody. He indicated 14 months. If he received 2-1 credits the he would have been credited for 28 months (I don’t know if he was given 2 for 1 credits, but many are).
If you add the 10 months he served then he could argue he has served 38 months and his sentence was only 3 years. This bothers me because if the crown’s appeal is struck down and even if Mr. Leroux is not successful he very well could still walk away.
The decision has been reserved with no date of when it will be made. Court will not be recalled, a written decision will simply be entered. The justices indicated that both the crown and Mr. Leroux would notification of when the decision was rendered and receive copies of it. The only way I have of knowing when it is rendered is to check the Sask. court website for cases.
Excellent report “just a victim.” Excellent. Thank you so much. This will be greatly appreciated by the victims who were unable to attend.
I just checked the Judge’s sentencing report regarding 2:1 for time in custody. Here it is:
“You will be credited with 36 days for the time you have spent in remand. Your sentence will be served by you in a federal penitentiary.”
Glad to hear that there is no 2 for 1 going on.
I’m trying to sort out the reference to pre-trial custody. I don’t recall any mention at all of Leroux being in custody. I’ve been checking through media reports and court documents- can find no reference anywhere to Leroux being in custody pre-trial. I believe he was in remand from the time he was convicted until sentencing, which probably works out to the 36 days credit cited by the judge.
At the end of the day it probably matters not, but just want to clarify this. Does anyone out there know with absolute certitude if Paul Leroux was or was not in custody?