Dejaeger gets court-ordered lawyer for appeal
Judge says case too complicated for 70-year-old priest, a confessed child molester
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, March 20, 2017
IQALUIT
After appealing to the court, convicted Oblate priest Eric Dejaeger will have a court-appointed lawyer in his appeal of 24 convictions for sex crimes during his time in Iglulik between 1978 and 1982. The victims were Inuit children and youth between four and 20 years of age.
Former priest Eric Dejaeger is to have a court appointed attorney as he appeals 24 convictions for sex crimes committed between 1978 and 1982. - NNSL file photo |
Justice Neil Sharkey released his written decision March 16, the day after the prisoner appeared in court.
"I am persuaded there is merit to Mr. Dejaeger's request for court-appointed counsel and accordingly, pursuant to section 684 of the Criminal Code, I order that counsel be appointed," stated Sharkey, noting the Attorney General of Canada will have to foot the bill.
Sharkey notes that Dejaeger's appeal against the conviction and sentence has now been in court six times since he filed a prisoner's appeal on March 26, 2015.
"Apart from the court's receipt of appeal books in January of 2016, the appeal has not progressed in any substantive manner due to Mr. Dejaeger's lack of legal representation."
Nunavut's Legal Services Board refused to provide Dejaeger legal aid in July 2016.
Sharkey determined the convicted felon would not be able to appeal the complex case on his own.
"He may be an educated man, but he is also a relatively old man, with no experience in handling the conduct of a court case on his own," stated Sharkey.
Dejaeger is now 70.
The merit of the appeal has yet to be determined.
"In fairness, the Crown has never suggested that Mr. Dejaeger's appeal is either frivolous or entirely without merit," Sharkey stated. "The appeal books which are before me contain volumes of witness testimony with many contentious legal issues."
Sharkey admitted there was merit to the Crown's reservation about the court ordering a lawyer but he said the matter has to be dealt with.
"After all the delay thus far there is a need for some expediency in getting this appeal heard as soon as possible. Indeed, in the event a new trial is ordered, it is important that the prospective witnesses wait as little as possible," he stated.
Dozens of complainants testified against Dejaeger during his highly emotional trial in late 2013 and early 2014, and later at his sentencing hearing.
He pleaded guilty to eight charges and Justice Robert Kilpatrick convicted him on a further 24 sex crimes of 72 charges in a written decision released Feb. 4, 2015. Dejaeger received a 19-year sentence, less eight years for time served.
Dejaeger is appealing the additional 24 convictions, as he maintained his innocence on those counts throughout the trial, as noted by his lawyer at the time Malcolm Kempt.
"Eric Dejaeger is a sex offender, an admitted sex offender. He admitted he touched eight boys inappropriately in his room," said Kempt in closing arguments. He said Dejaeger was not guilty on other charges.
In late October 2015, the already-convicted child molester was sentenced to three additional five-year sentences for sex crimes against three children, two boys and a girl under the age of 10 when the abuse began, between Jan. 1, 1974, and Dec. 31, 1976, in northern Alberta and Edmonton.
He is serving those sentences concurrently with each other and the 19-year sentence.
Convictions and sentences date back to 1990, stemming first from similar incidents in Baker Lake. The Alberta incidents pre-date the Baker Lake and Iglulik crimes, although the charges were laid later.
Dejaeger is currently serving out his sentence at the medium-security Warkworth Institution near Campbellford, Ont. According to the Correctional Service Canada website, the institution is based on a structured campus design model where offender accommodations are direct observation living units.
