Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Germany jails catholic volunteer for sex abuse of children

A German court jailed a Catholic layman for 57 months on Monday for sexually abusing six children at holiday camps organized by the church and the council of his hometown. 

"I'm very sorry. I am going to work on myself. This will never happen again," the 31-year-old man said, weeping, before the sentencing.

The judge in Darmstadt, a Frankfurt suburb, told him he should request therapy while he served out his jail term.

The man was a volunteer church worker, assisting at Catholic ceremonies as an adult altar server. 

The offences happened in the town of Moerfelden-Walldorf from 2001 to 2004.

The man said he himself had been abused as a child when he first began as an altar server.

SIC: TIMES/INT'L