Sex crimes. They’re not just for priests anymore.
The media has been rife with stories of priests sexually abusing minors for years now and lawsuits have bankrupted many a diocese. In a rather unusual twist a nun has been sentenced to a year in jail and 10 years probation for the sexual abuse of two teens when she was their principal forty years ago.
Sister Norma Giannini avoided a trial by pleading no-contest in November to two felony counts of indecent behavior with a child.
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One of Giannini’s accusers, James St. Patrick, 55, of Belgium, Wis., asked Donald to impose a longer sentence. After the hearing, he said he was angry.
“When are we going to start dealing with female rapists and give them the same sentence as male rapists?” he asked.
In addition to the year behind bars, Giannini was ordered to serve 10 years of supervised probation. She has 60 days to report to jail.
The other accuser, Gerald Kobs, also 55, sobbed as he told the judge the abuse left him suicidal and emotionally withdrawn.
“It’s going to take a while to have a reaction,” he said after the sentencing. “I’m just glad it’s over.”
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They told authorities they had dozens of sexual encounters with Giannini, including intercourse, while attending St. Patrick’s School in Milwaukee during the 1960s, according to a criminal complaint. Giannini taught eighth grade and served as principal at the school.
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Prosecutors had asked for more than $28,000 in restitution, mainly for therapy costs, but the judge noted Giannini had taken a vow of poverty 60 years ago and had virtually no assets.
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A psychologist told prosecutors in 2006 that Giannini identified four other victims to an Archdiocese of Milwaukee panel. The three were in Milwaukee and one was in Chicago, where she worked before and after her stint in Wisconsin, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.
No charges in those cases have been filed.
Nauseating and despicable. No doubt the parents of those boys sent them there believing that since it was a religious school they were not only getting a higher quality education and better sense of morality, but were safer. Little did they know…
The notion that religious = moral must come to an end. Religious people are not inherently more moral than are non-religious people, and it is all too easy to hide evil behind a mantle of religious piety. People must judge morality by actions, not labels or ideologies.
