Court confirms prison sentence in St Joseph Home abuse case

Defrocked priests Carmelo Pulis and Godwin Scerri were in a visible state of shock when police officers put handcuffs around their wrists, escorted them out of a courtroom and took them down a rear lift to holding cells beneath the building, until they were driven by prison van to Corradino Prisons to start serving definite prison terms.

Pulis and Scerri - sentenced last year by Magistrate Saviour Demicoli to six years and five years imprisonment respectively - had hoped to the very end for an acquittal on appeal.

Their judgment was confirmed on appeal by Mr. Justice Scicluna on the basis of clear evidence of lewd and lustful acts which were committed by the two on a number of 'passive victims'.

The Court said that although Pulis and Scerri were considered to be 'father figures' for the boys at St. Joseph Home in Hamrun, "the fact remains however, that corruption of minors is a serious and ugly crime which could leave serious effects, be they physical or psychological on whoever experienced them."

Mr. Justice Scicluna said that the witnesses in the case had been "credible" even though he found "blatant contradictions" by witness Lawrence Grech in a number of instances. "However the court was not ready to speculate on the motivations behind reports of abuse, because such reports were corroborated by a number of other victims."

While explaining that it found nothing disproportionate in the jail terms imposed by the lower court in August 2011, Judge Scicluna ruled that it was "not disturbing" the convictions imposed by Magistrate Demicoli against the two, which were within the parameters at law.

The Court also rejected the defendants claim that they were prosecuted on alleged crimes which were time-barred.

While the Court went into the detail of each witness - 11 victims in all - it focused mainly on witness Lawrence Grech, who was the main subject of Fr. Pulis and Fr. Scerri's application for appeal.

Judge Scicluna kept a neutral approach to Grech, who was proven to have been "the preferred one" among the boys at St. Joseph's Home, but despite this fact, he was also abused.

On the issue of  credibility, the Court said that it was true that Grech considered Fr. Pulis as a 'father figure' and kept close contact with him even after he left the institution, met up with him in Australia and chose him to celebrate his wedding mass.

The Court acknowledged that Grech had lied on occasions and dented his credibility during the course of the case, but his claims of abuse were also corroborated by other victims. It added that it was quite typical of victims of such abuse to suffer from fear, shame and submissiveness.

Pray for me

Shortly before Mr. Justice David Scicluna entered his court room at 9:30am, Fr. Pulis was overheard speaking to a caller on his cell phone as he paced through the corridor on the first floor. He told the caller, "please pray for me because I'm facing my final judgment."

Once inside the courtroom, and seated next to each other in the dock, Pulis appeared anxious and fidgety, while Scerri sat immobile with his hands folded.

Tensions were high as three former orphans at St. Joseph Home in Hamrun, led by Lawrence Grech - the prime witness and main promoter of the criminal case which convicted the two priests - entered the courtroom and sat behind the accused.

Five police officers were inside the courtroom as silence took over for the next two hours, as Judge David Scicluna read out his 80 page judgment.

Pulis and Scerri looked bewildered as the Judge retired to his Chambers at the end of the sitting, and were immediately approached by their lawyers who explained to them what was to happen next.

Surrounded by five policemen, the two priests were separated and taken out of the courtroom, had their cell phones taken and escorted to holding cells until they were transferred to Corradino Prisons.

Inside Corradino

The priests arrived at Corradino Prisons at 13:00 when all other inmates were having lunch. They were handed to the Chief Warder, strip-searched, registered, photographed and given a briefing about the prison regime.

Pulis and Scerri were then escorted to Division 8, known to be reserved for vulnerable persons, where inmates are housed in a segregated unit divided by two metre by three meter cubicles with a curtain for privacy.

During a medical examination late in the afternoon, it was established that Fr. Pulis had to be transferred to Mount Carmel Hospital's Forensic Ward - and placed under 'suicide watch' after prison authorities were informed that the priest had recently attempted to harm himself.

No forgiveness

Addressing the media outside the law courts soon after he witnessed defrocked priests Godwin Scerri and Carmelo Pulis be escorted to jail in a prison van, Lawrence Grech - who had put his face to the cases against the two priests - said that he was not going to forgive them.

"I will not forgive," Grech said, adding that "government must now insist with the Archbishop's Curia to transfer all the files it has on many other victims to the Police, just across the road, so that they would be thoroughly investigated."

Grech, who according to Judge David Scicluna who presided over the Court of Criminal Appeal was the subject of "blatant contradictions" and at times "lied" in his evidence, cried when he was asked how he felt when he saw Pulis and Scerri being handcuffed and taken to prison.

"I regarded Fr. Pulis as my father...what can I say, I am saddened," he said.

Also asked to react to the Court's comments in his regards, Grech defended himself by saying that the priest's lawyers did all they could to attack his credibility.

Asked about the compensation he and the other victims expect for their ordeal while in the hands of a Church-run institution, Grech replied: "just like abroad..."

He was interrupted by a journalist who asked if it was in the "million's" but Grech replied "we are talking to our lawyer..."