Posted on 05/04/2011 6:47:12 PM PDT by Gamecock
FULL TITLE: Catholic bishop enters custody at Ottawa courthouse after pleading guilty to importing child pornography
OTTAWA In an extraordinary move, a Catholic bishop who admitted to importing graphic images and videos of child sexual abuse asked a judge to jail him Wednesday, voluntarily beginning to serve a sentence that will last at least a year.
Raymond Lahey, 70, looked back into the courtroom and seemed to take a deep breath before pulling the door to the prisoners dock closed behind him and letting himself be led into the back hallway that leads to the cells of the Elgin Street courthouse.
Laheys detention followed an admission by the man who once oversaw a historic Nova Scotia child sex-abuse settlement that he had tried to bring 588 child pornography images along with 60 videos and numerous stories featuring themes of humiliation, degradation, torture and slavery of young boys into the country following a trip abroad in September 2009.
Prosecutors said Lahey was travelling alone when he landed at the Ottawa airport on Sept. 15, 2009, on a flight from London, England. His passport showed he had visited Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Germany since 2005.
Lahey was calm, friendly and forthcoming when he approached a customs agent, but his demeanour soon changed when she repeatedly asked if he had any electronic devices, including a laptop computer, according to an agreed statement of facts.
He was somewhat nervous, quiet, hesitant and avoided eye contact, said Crown prosecutor David Elhadad.
Lahey was sent for a secondary inspection, where another customs agent discovered three images of naked young males, including some engaged in sexual acts. He was also carrying a small blue bag containing personal sex toys, according to Elhadad.
An Ottawa police investigator then found about a dozen more images of pre-pubescent young males, including one as young as eight. Some were engaged in sex acts with adults.
At the time of his initial arrest, Lahey denied having an interest in child pornography. However, he admitted he had an attraction to young males, particularly around the age of 20 or 21, but also those in their 30s and 40s.
Laheys computer was seized and he was allowed to leave. He stepped down from his job as bishop in Antigonish, N.S., the next day. A Canada-wide warrant for his arrest was issued a month later.
Ottawa police Det. Andrew Thompson testified that a forensic examination of Laheys laptop included a review of his Internet searches for terms used by those interested in child pornography. Lahey searched for Lolita once, but searched the word twink, slang for a young-looking gay male, 1,182 times, Thompson testified.
Thompson testified that Laheys browsing history revealed visits to three websites featuring images that were close to child pornography, showing boys in their early teens.
The facts were read after a stone-faced Lahey, his arms crossed in front of him, entered his plea in a clear voice.
Lahey could have remained free on bail, but his lawyer Michael Edelson said his client felt deep and profound remorse for what he had done and wanted to start serving his sentence immediately.
Lahey is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of a year in jail, although Crown prosecutors indicated they might seek a longer term. It was not clear whether Lahey might try to seek extra credit for the time spent in jail prior to his actual sentencing, although the Crown said they expected the time would be considered on a one-for-one basis.
Prosecutors asked Ontario Court Justice Kent Kirkland to order a pre-sentence report for Lahey, who was described by assistant Crown attorney Mihael Cole as a troubled man.
The judge declined, however, after Edelson argued that prosecutors had intimate details about Laheys background from an extensive psychiatric and sexual-behaviour assessment conducted by Dr. John Bradford from the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. Edelson also submitted character references from 11 people who knew Lahey well.
We have nothing to hide, Edelson said.
Elhadad said the Crown intends to challenge portions of Bradfords report and wanted to know what kind of risk Lahey might pose once he is released. Prosecutors also argued that a probation officer could talk to those supervising Lahey.
A bishop has one supervisor: the Pope, Edelson said. The Pope is not going to be taking a call from the probation supervisor.
Following Laheys plea, the Vatican pledged it would take action against Lahey.
The Vatican said it was considering appropriate disciplinary or penal action against Lahey who retains the rank of a bishop emeritus in the church and condemned child sexual exploitation of all kinds.
In addition to the criminal charges, Lahey is also accused in a civil lawsuit of sexual abuse.
In a statement of claim filed in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, Todd Boland alleged former Bishop Raymond Lahey fondled him over his clothes, and that the abuse happened on numerous occasions over several years. The abuse is alleged to have happened in the mid-1980s when Boland was a resident at the infamous Mount Cashel orphanage.
A date for the sentencing hearing is expected to be set May 26.
Being literate and quite able to comprehend what I read I can say without hesitation that did not claim that children seduced priests who abused them.
Tsk, tsk. How intolerant of you. Do you know that if you were to say publicly in many countries what you just wrote here you would be charged with a hate crime?
Sad world isn’t it?
I can read, too. I could discuss it here, and try to put things in context, but my hands are tied.
Confession might be good for your soul
I understand you not wanting to bring it to this thread.
The most probable pedophiles in order are:
Fathers
Teachers
Coaches
Protestant ministers
Priests are way down on the list.
So if a father is a teacher of mid-high history, coaches the girls basketball team and is a youth minister at his church on weekends/Sundays watch out! He would be much more prone to pedophilia that any priest.
___________________________________________________________
Sexual Abuse of Children by Protestant Ministers
Report: Protestant Church Insurers Handle 260 Sex Abuse Cases a Year
Abuse by Protestant Ministers of Every Denomination
Child Sexual Molestation by Various Protestant Clergy
"Yeshiva" of Brooklyn also Guilty of Child Abuse
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The view source for post 39 shows all the A HREF source urls as “”
You are right. Cultural Marxism is to destroy debate of issues because Marxism can’t allow logic and reason (as all Postmodern German Philosophy) for it is based on lies and a denial of Natural Law Theory and the Enlightenment ideas.
Political Correctness was developed by the Herbert Marcuse’s and Bill Ayers’ of the world to destroy Christianity and the natural family so that their godless ideology could redesign man into their ‘trousered ape’ image which can be enslaved.
Bravo. That is not a position I see taken by many Catholics here on FR. I'm sure they really feel that way, but would never admit it on these pages.
Still, what are we to say about the liberal mainline Protestant denominations that are openly bringing sodomites into the clergy? Anyone who thinks that sodomites wont molest children simply because they are Protestant clergy is clinically insane (Im not saying that this is your position).
One must wonder if those folks are truely Christians. The liberal Protestant Churches are dying on the vine. Sodomites are not the true disease but rather a major symptom. The disease is denying the truth of Scripture. That is what they have to do to reach the point where they openly welcome homosexuals.
It starts something like this: Paul hated women or Paul was just writing about his time. Next thing you know women are ministers.
Then it turns into the Bible was just reflecting the way homosexuals were treated by the ancient cultures. Soon homosexuals are being ordained.
BTW, who is saying that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church is leftist? Has it changed that much since it was set up by Machen et. al.?
Cronos. He seems to have an interesting definition of leftist.
Blessings
As an aside: [Against] The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment C.S. Lewis
Protocol suggests Judith Anne should have been pinged. No matter - she is known to shoot from the hip without taking the pistol out of the holster.
Show me where she ever wrote that the child victims were the cause of their own abuse.
First, I never said that. Now you tell me how you got that from this:
"Protocol suggests Judith Anne should have been pinged. No matter - she is known to shoot from the hip without taking the pistol out of the holster."
Old Reggie,
I apologize that is what others wrote in regards to what Judith Ann had posted and I wrongly thought you were asserting the same thing when you wrote “Nobody? not exactly. Such things were said. Judge for yourself.”
I have discussed the post you have linked to on another thread. I think it gets too confusing to discuss a post made by another person in the past on another thread on several current threads. Lost yet? I am.
I truly can not speak to the mind of Judith Ann but my understanding was she was speaking of teenagers who participate in the homosexual subculture. Think drugs, think perversion, think parasitic relationships.
In my opinion such a subculture does not apply to teen victims of clergy. Especially teen victims from an era much more innocent than ours.
One very real consequence of the growing acceptance of homosexual behavior as normal is that more and more teens will be drawn into the sordid dangerous exploitive subculture of sexual perversion. The same subculture that feeds the whole demand for pornography and the sex trade.
I won’t write anything more about Judith Ann’s remarks.
Again I apologizee for my haste in jumping to conclusions about what you wrote.
Since he voluntarily stepped down as bishop, he’s actually not a bishop at all, emeritus notwithstanding. At least he pled guilty...
Very very disturbing and revealing. Luther was right, not one man in 1,000 can happily live a celibate life... I believe in our sex-drenched culture too, those who volunteer for a life of celibacy will have a (significantly) higher percentage of homosexual or other deviant tendencies, which they are trying to get away from, or hide.
I’m glad the bible doesn’t require celibacy in Church leaders.
Actually, married ministers have quite a bit of trouble, too. Consider Trollope’s married bishop, for instance, trying to deal with Mrs. Bishop.
And, although the press is dead set on attacking the Catholic Church by any means, sexual deviancy is just as common, or more common, among Protestant ministers, and certainly among public school teachers, married or not.
I’ve known quite a few celibate priests, and they manage pretty well. Better than Martin Luther, whom you mention, breaking his solemn vows and marrying a nun, thereby making her break her vows as well.
Not denial of any facts...just your constant stream of anti-Catholic posts here. Even your homepage here is replete with bigotry.
If Catholic clergymen are proven guilty of these crimes then by all means they need to pay the penalties as anyone else would. But you seem to search for this and then just gleefully post these stories. I’m certainly not in denial, as all men are imperfect, even priests and bishops of HMC, but that doesn’t mitigate the fact that this sort of thing goes on in ALL denominations. Why no stories about them?
It also doesn’t mitigate the fact that you have an agenda.
Thank you very much. Every one of us has jumped to a hasty conclusion every now and then so it is no big deal. No apology is necessary but I very much appreciate your honesty and integrity in doing so.
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