The Kurzeme district court sentenced an 83-year-old priest to ten years in prison for sexual violence against five girls in the Talsa district, LETA agency found out from the prosecutor’s office.
The man, born in 1941, is accused of having, between August 2018 and April 2022, performed sexual acts with five girls aged between seven and 16 years against their will, using trust, in order to satisfy his sexual desire in physical contact with the victim’s body. and in four cases a state of helplessness.
The man is also accused of committing acts of a sexual nature without physical contact with the victim’s body in order to arouse the sexual instinct in the victim.
The court found the defendant guilty of the criminal offenses charged against him and sentenced him to ten years of imprisonment and three years of probation supervision.
According to the indictment, at the time when the man was alone with one of the victimized girls, using the helplessness of the girls, that is, the fact that four of the victimized girls were unable to understand the nature and meaning of the actions performed with them due to their youth and individual psychological characteristics, as well as using their authority – being a parish priest – performed sexual acts in order to satisfy his sexual desire in physical contact with the victim’s body.
As a result of the accused man’s illegal actions, the sexual inviolability, morality and normal physical and mental development of the victimized girls were threatened.
The prosecutor is satisfied with the sentence imposed by the court and does not plan to ask the court to prepare a full verdict.
On the other hand, the judgment of the other persons involved in the process can be appealed to the Kurzeme Regional Court.
The Prosecutor’s Office points out, – if there is even the slightest suspicion that a child might have suffered from sexual or other types of violence, the State Police should be contacted immediately.
It has already been reported that other pastors have also been accused of sexual crimes in recent years. On May 9, the Riga City Court plans to continue reviewing the criminal case in which the then rector of Riga’s St. Albert Parish, Krišjānis Dambergs, is accused of sexually abusing a child in church premises.
In another case, the priest of the Rēzekne-Aglona Diocese, Pavel Zeiļa, has been charged with a sexual crime of a sexual nature together with another man in the court of first instance.
