CHILE: CATHOLIC PRIEST SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN PRISON FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF 9 CHILDREN.

Record ID: 645950

  • Title: CHILE: CATHOLIC PRIEST SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN PRISON FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF 9 CHILDREN.
  • Date: 25th June 2003
  • Summary: (U7) SANTIAGO, CHILE (JUNE 24, 2003) (REUTERS) MCU: INTERIOR OF COURTROOM
  • Embargoed: 10th July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SANTIAGO, CHILE
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVALJ3TU4WXW11DVAHEZBK8FE32
  • Story Text: A Catholic priest has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for sexually abusing nine children. The court has also ordered Santiago's Archbishop to pay a fine of some $71,000 (US) for his role in covering up the crime.
    For the first time, the head of the Catholic church in Chile on Tuesday (June 24) was held partially responsible for crimes committed by a priest. Meanwhile, the priest, Father Jose Andres Aguirre Ovalle ('Father Tato'), was sentenced to 12 years in prison for raping at least 10 children from 1998 to 2002.
    The decision by Judge Rosa Maria Pinto to fine the Archbishop of Santiago 50 million pesos ($71,200 U.S.) was closely watched in Chile. During the course of the investigation, details emerged showing that the Archbishop covered up Aguirre's crimes, transferring him to Spain and later Honduras for three years following the revelation that the priest had impregnated a young woman in 1994.
    Forty-five-year-old Aguirre was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the sexual abuse of 10 children who were part of his parish in the city of Quilicura.
    Pinto said she had given serious consideration to the sentences.
    "It is a sentence that tries to be equitable, in the sense of punishing the person responsible for the crime. It is more grievous, because the person responsible is a priest, or was a priest," said Pinto. "Additionally, it's all more grievous because this priest depended on and was under the tutelage of an institution as important as the Catholic church."
    Accusations that Aguirre had abused other children span back at least a decade.
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