The Roman Catholic diocese of Prince George, BC, says that he hopes that a settlement of $ 3.4 million will provide an alleged victim of sexual abuse by a school teacher “certain degree of restitution for the damage that his abuser inflicted him so unfairly.
The agreement of the Diocese and St. Thomas More Collegiate, a Catholic school in Burnaby, BC, was announced in a statement published by lawyer Sandra Kovacs, who represented the anonymous man of the lawsuit.
He was also appointed in the demand former teacher Alfred Patrick Quigley, who the anonymous plaintiff said sexually abused him in the 1990s.
Quigley taught in O’Gray Catholic High School in Prince George, and it was said that one of the alleged assaults occurred in St. Thomas More Collegiate.
Accused of preparing the plaintiff
The lawsuit accused Quigley of preparing the plaintiff before assaulting him sexually in 1993 and 1994.
Quigley denied the accusations in the claim in his response presented in the court, but did not participate in the case when he approached the trial, and could not be contacted to make comments through his former lawyer.
The accusations were not tested in the Court, and Quigley, now 75 years old and is believed to live in Terranova, has not been criminally accused in BC.
“Although neither the diocese nor the school were aware of the irregularity that occurred in the 1990s, they have recognized and accepted the legal responsibility that arose indirectly due to the acts of their employee in these circumstances,” he issued a statement issued by the diocese . He said Tuesday.
“We hope and pray that this resolution allows [the plaintiff] To continue its healing process and that this healing extends to all victims of abuse. ”
St. Thomas More Collegiate did not respond to a request for comments a deadline on Tuesday.
The demand said that Quigley was unusually friendly and attentive to the plaintiff and took him to films “sexually loaded”, including Basic instinct.
The lawsuit also claimed that Quigley took the plaintiff under his wing, gave him gifts, took him to night trips and taught him to play Pumpkin in an installation where they shower or would go to a naked steam room together.
He then claimed that Quigley committed sexual acts with the plaintiff twice while in road trips and that, as minor, the plaintiff had no capacity to consent to any sexual contact.
Other demands
Quigley has been appointed in other demands filed in the BC Supreme Court in 2024 that contains similar accusations that have not yet been heard or resolved.
Kovacs said that the agreement was reached just before the case was scheduled for a 23 -day trial in the BC Supreme Court in Vancouver, and although it offers its client the financial restitution, the lawsuit was also on the responsibility.
“This man operated as a teacher for decades,” Kovacs said. “What we are looking for is to hold the system.”
Kovacs said that most of his practice now implies working with institutional abuse survivors. She said that cases related to the Catholic Church involve a culture of secret.
“That culture of secret and clericalism, this idea that priests and religious men are superior to the laity, who believes, believe, a systemic problem that allows this abuse to occur and happen continuously,” he said.
“That is a problem that must be addressed functionally at its base in the Church, and that has not yet happened.”
The Diocese and O’Gray high school had denied accusations of assault and sexual assault in their response to demand and also denied accusations of systemic negligence and intentional blindness.
The plaintiff said in the statement that continues to recover from the trauma he endured, but now he has more hopes than ever for other abuse survivors to speak while “traveling to significant healing and justice.”
