Child sex assault involving priests are not the rare case in Europe, even in the Vatican, but the Winnipeggers were shocked when the child sex abuse story involving a Winnipeg priest surfaced last year. Local priest now charged with four counts of sexual assault and indecent assault for crimes that occurred between 1982 and 1988.
Now 70-year-old priest, Roland Lanoe was placed under arrest on Wednesday, October 3rd. The victim was a resident student at the St. Boniface Minor Seminary at the time of the offenses. As of now, there is no information about the victim, his/her name and age are unknown, also there is no evidence if there were multiple victims or the same person for all four counts of sexual assault as presented in charges by Winnipeg Police.
In early 2017, when allegation surfaced, Lanoe was removed from his ministerial duties and the internal investigation was launched and the issue was presented to the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The investigation is still ongoing, due to the timeline and the events that happened in the 1980`s it will take time to locate possible witnesses and get a statement from the for the court hearing, as well as collect necessary evidence for the prosecution to build a case.