Former Priest of Pisa Convicted of Abuse of Young Guests
A 61-year-old former priest, originally from Pisa, was sentenced to four years in prison by the Court of Terni, presided over by Simona Tordelli. The man, who was laicized in 2004, was found guilty of having committed sexual violence on three young guests of a reception facility in Villanova di Orvieto between 2016 and 2020.
The conviction mainly concerns the accusation of sexual assault on a 17-year-old boy in the summer of 2017. Furthermore, the former priest was found guilty of impersonation, since between 2017 and 2020 he continued to wear the collar white, to celebrate mass and present himself as a ‘priest’ to public bodies and offices, despite having been secularised in 2004.
The Court of Terni, however, acquitted the former priest of two other charges. One concerned the hypothesis of child prostitution, in which it was alleged that the man had offered money and promises in exchange for sexual services to another 17-year-old boy. The other accusation concerned the sexual assault on a third young minor guest of the reception facility.
The court recognized the prevalence of generic mitigating circumstances over the contested aggravating circumstances and sentenced the former priest to compensate the company that manages the Villanova reception facility for a total of 5,000 euros, in addition to legal costs.
The former priest, who has always denied the accusations, was defended by the lawyer Emilio Festa. The latter stated that he will decide whether to appeal once he has read the reasons for the sentence, which will be filed within the next 90 days. Lawyer Festa also underlined that the court showed balance in acquitting his client of two of the three charges, sharing his own doubts about the age of two of the three victims. The civil party was represented by the lawyer Nicola Pepe. In the courtroom, prosecutor Giorgio Panucci had asked for a sentence of seven years and eight months in prison.
