Priest to appeal re-trial order

Share Button

The River 99.3 FM

By MNN. Last updated: 2011-11-03 08:03:29

A former Dalhousie-area priest will appeal an order to stand trial a second time for an alleged sex crime.

Charles Picot was acquitted in March 2010 of an indecent assault on a 13 year-old-boy dating back to 1975.

He got off after the judge ruled no one could corroborate the victim’s testimony.

Earlier this year, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal ordered a new trial in a split-decision.

Picot has since filed notice he intends to appeal the matter with the Supreme Court of Canada.

He was sentenced to eight months in jail for a different sex crime in August.

___________________

Acquitted priest to appeal order for new trial

Telegraph-Journal (New Brunswick)

Published Wednesday November 2nd, 2011

A3

SHAWN BERRY
Telegraph-Journal

A former priest ordered to stand trial again after he was acquitted last year on a decades-old charge of sexual interference has filed notice he plans to appeal the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Click to Enlarge
Photo: Canadaeast News Service Archive
Former priest Charles Picot will appeal a ruling calling for a new trial on a sex charge.

Charles Picot, who served as a priest in Campbellton and Dalhousie was acquitted last year of a 1975 charge of indecent assault on a boy who was 13. Picot was parish priest at Saint-Jean-Baptiste Roman Catholic Church in Dalhousie at the time.

Picot was acquitted on March 3, 2010 when the trial judge said the victim’s testimony was not corroborated. The judge did not dismiss the victim’s testimony as unbelievable.

But in a split decision earlier this year, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal ordered a new trial in the case.

Justice Richard Bell, giving the reasons for himself and Justice Kathleen A. Quigg, ruled that a new trial was in order.

In August, Picot was sentenced to eight months in jail after being found guilty of a sex assault dating back several decades.

Leave a Reply