21 months in prison for Catholic priest Pichette

CBC News, Canada/January 10, 2007

Roman Catholic priest Daniel Pichette will serve 21 months in prison after pleading guilty in Quebec Wednesday to several counts of sexual assault involving Duplessis Orphans more than half a century ago.

The 80-year-old was sentenced in a courtroom in a Sherbrooke after his lawyer reached a deal with the Crown prosecutor over the holidays.

Pichette pleaded guilty in late November 2006 to eight charges of sexual abuse involving five boys and three girls who had spent time at the Val-du-Lac Centre in the 1950s, and the Grand-Maman camp in the Eastern Townships' Rock Forest region.

All eight victims were Duplessis Orphans, part of the thousands of children who suffered sexual and physical abuse, including electroshock and lobotomies, in orphanages run by the Catholic Church in Quebec in the 1940s and 1950s.

The Quebec government announced in late December it would pay another $26 million in compensation to the Duplessis Orphans.

The elderly priest entered his guilty plea after several days of harrowing testimony from his victims, now ranging in age from 40 to 60, who described the horrific abuse they experienced as children and teenagers between 1952 and 1975.

Roman Catholic priest Daniel Pichette will serve 21 months in prison after pleading guilty in Quebec Wednesday to several counts of sexual assault involving Duplessis Orphans more than half a century ago.

The 80-year-old was sentenced in a courtroom in a Sherbrooke after his lawyer reached a deal with the Crown prosecutor over the holidays.

Pichette pleaded guilty in late November 2006 to eight charges of sexual abuse involving five boys and three girls who had spent time at the Val-du-Lac Centre in the 1950s, and the Grand-Maman camp in the Eastern Townships' Rock Forest region.

All eight victims were Duplessis Orphans, part of the thousands of children who suffered sexual and physical abuse, including electroshock and lobotomies, in orphanages run by the Catholic Church in Quebec in the 1940s and 1950s.

The Quebec government announced in late December it would pay another $26 million in compensation to the Duplessis Orphans.

The elderly priest entered his guilty plea after several days of harrowing testimony from his victims, now ranging in age from 40 to 60, who described the horrific abuse they experienced as children and teenagers between 1952 and 1975.

One woman, now 48, described in detail the "sexual education" Pichette forced upon her every weekend she visited the camp as a young girl and teenager.

Other victims called him a monster and detailed the devastating scars his abuse left on their lives, which were filled with dysfunction, depression, broken marriages, attempted suicide and substance abuse.

Judge Michel Beauchemin, who oversaw the case, called it the most troubling trial he had ever presided over in his 17-year career.

When he pleaded guilty to the charges, Pichette expressed regret and asked for forgiveness. He was arrested in December 2004.