SPAIN’s Supreme Court has upheld the 30-year prison sentence of a former priest for abusing seven minors at a Catholic boarding school.
The court found he abused several children between 2013 and 2016 at a school in Ciudad Real – the victims were around 13 years old.
The court heard that the priest – who worked as a teacher – indecently groped his victims during swimming lessons and forced several boys to strip in front of him.
In 2016, an ecclesiastical tribunal received complaints about his conduct. She stripped the man of his priestly status and sent him to civil justice.
In 2020, he was found guilty of sexual abuse and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The former priest appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld the previous decision on Tuesday, fined him 52,920 euros and ordered him to pay 2,000 euros in compensation to each victim.
An association representing victims of child abuse by priests welcomed the decision, telling AP: “We don’t often see these long sentences. Previously, the Supreme Court had even reduced certain sentences. Priests rarely go to jail in Spain. I hope (the decision) paves the way for this to become normal.
The sexual abuse of minors by church members in Spain is a recurring problem in the Catholic Church and especially in schools with hundreds of people claiming to be victims.
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