Monday, February 03, 2025

Canadian court convicts former priest from West Flanders of the sexual abuse for the 5th time

A court in Canada has sentenced the former priest Eric Dejaeger to 6 years’ imprisonment after he was found guilty of having sexually abused 7 children in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

The abuse took place in Nunavut in the far northeast of Canada. 

The conviction is the former priest’s, who is originally from Roeselare in West Flanders, 5th for the sexual abuse of children in Canada. In this case, Eric Dejaeger’s victims were aged between 4 and 9 years old. 

The court in Igloolik, in Canada’s Nunavut Territory found 77-year-old Eric Dejaeger guilty of the rape and sexual assault of 7 Native Canadian children (6 girls and 1 boy). 

The offences were committed between 1978 and 1982. 

He abused his position as a priest in a small Native Canadian community to commit acts of sexual abuse against young children.

When passing sentence judge Faiyaz Alibhai told the  court "He destroyed their childhood, hurt relations with their families and ruined their bond with their church. He is a calculated predator that preyed on children.”

First conviction in 1990

Both the prosecution and Eric Dejaeger's lawyers had suggested 6 years in prison as a suitable sentence. 

At the start of the trial, the former clergyman had pleaded not guilty. However, he recanted mid-trial and changed his plea to guilty. This is considered to be a mitigating factor in Canada.

This is the 5th time that Eric Dejaeger has been convicted of child sexual abuse. He first went to jail in 1990 for sexually abusing children at Baker Lake (Nunavut Territory) between 1982 and 1989. In 1991, he was sentenced to eight months in prison for two counts of sexual abuse.

In 2015 Eric Dejaeger was sentenced to 19 years' imprisonment after having been found guilty of 32 counts of sexual abuse in Igloolik between 1978 and 1982. 

Most of his victims were between the ages of 6 and 8. In the same year he convicted of another 4 counts of sexual abuse committed on 3 children in Edmonton (Alberta).

He was released on probation in 2022. 

One of the conditions of his probation was that he had to stay in a semi-open detention centre.