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 prisoner’s dock closed behind him and letting himself be led into the back hallway that leads to the cells of the Elgin Street courthouse.
Lahey’s 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.
Lahey’s 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 Lahey’s 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 Lahey’s 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 Lahey’s 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 Bradford’s 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 Lahey’s 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.
If it is a reference to an article or his own posts then probably not. Anything else, it depends.
Your links are broken.
Got anything yet?
Do not badger him.
All your links are belong to us.
From this page
there are links to;
Reading that thread, one can see the poster Gamecock refers to, explaining the statement(s).
Those statements, one could make a case for now being mis-characterized to an extent, as stand alone statements. IMO. Yet that does not equate with Gamecock having spun it out of whole cloth.
I would think if one has further trouble with either party, it would be best to take it up with them, on those threads?
Here is some good background on the case. It is important to note that: “A Canadian priest now ministering in Florida says he informed Newfoundland’s leading prelate in 1989 that an abuse victim recounted that he had seen pornography in Bishop Raymond Lahey’s home in 1985”
The article also contains links to other cites that have more on this case. One link is titled: “Bishop porn issue known to N.L. church in 1989 (CBC)”
I am most grateful that this turd on a stick was caught by alert customs officials who noticed his many travels to countries known for child sexual exploitation.
FULL TITLE: Catholic bishop enters custody at Ottawa courthouse after pleading guilty to importing child pornography
And you reply to me has what to do with this news story?
Its not the Protestants, Baptists, Jewish, wiccan, et al, pedophiles fault that a Catholic Bishop did these things.
He has been an ex Bishop since he resigned the day after he was caught. The true tragedy is that he most likely has multiple victims who have not yet come forward.
Unless Gamecock has other thread links backing up his claims at post #2 then resume those arguments on the threads you linked.
I agree.
“Lahey is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of a year in jail, although Crown prosecutors indicated they might seek a longer term.”
Might, might!!??? WTH? Sorry that makes no sense to me. If this guy is the classic pedophile I believe him to be he should never be out of custody.
“To the Catholics who claim that somehow children seduced Priests, how is it possible that inanimate objects seduced a Roman Catholic Bishop.”
We have already shown that this is a false statement.
That Mitre alone should have been a big warning.
Nobody said any such thing. But the truth does not serve their twisted hatred of Catholics.
I am beginning to believe that this horrible sin is deeply embedded in the fabric of the Catholic clergy. It is endemic, pervasive, and goes back decades, if not centuries.
I am a cradle Catholic. I believe in Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in God the Father and his Word (for He can neither deceive nor be deceived), in the Holy Spirit and His gifts and His fruits.
I do not believe in sinful men who allow these crimes against children to go on unabated. I do not believe in the absolute authority of priests, Bishops, Cardinals, or Popes.
I do believe in the sincere good people with whom I worship at Mass every Sunday. I have confidence in their wisdom and sense of justice. I have hope that my Church will be restored from the bottom up; not from the top down.
You forgot infuriating which was my first reaction.
It is an awful, awful disgusting truth and a testament to the depravity some sink to that the sexual exploitation of children is a big business.
Every one of those photos represented a real child who had probably been abused over and over again.
Please pray that Christ comes into their lives. That somehow they are rescued and given the love and hope they so deserve.
I view these vile acts as deadly as any homicide and feel the guilty should suffer the same penalty.
Nobody? not exactly. Such things were said. Judge for yourself.
The problem is not the Catholic Church....it is homosexuality. Homosexuals have an intrinsic disorder because they were abused as young boys and their sexuality perverted through emotional/and/or physical abuse. It is a condition and state of mind that should never be allowed in the Priesthood....but because of the APA who took homosexuality off of their dysfunctional list (through political force, not scientific evidence)....the Catholic Church has been forced to be “lenient” with homosexuals because of political correctness.
Homosexuals have less ability to control their sexual impulses as proven by all stats on child abuse.....homosexuals in the priesthood are the vast majority of all child abuse claims. This looking at sex through their twisted reality, places sexual urges above even their vocation. It should be noted that even the priesthood is not strong enough to curb the homosexual’s desire to recreate the exhilaration of their first seduction.
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