News Americas, LONDON, England, Mon. Mar. 30, 2015: A former Polish priest accused of sexually abusing boys in the Dominican Republic and in Poland will spend the next seven years of his life in jail.
Rev. Wojciech Gil, 36, was recently jailed over a year after his arrest arrested in Krakow in February 2014. The arrest came as authorities were investigating allegations that Wesolowski who was an archbishop, was dismissed from the priesthood in June after a Vatican investigation. They did not extradite him to Poland for trial because the former ambassador retains Vatican citizenship.
Gil spent a decade as a parish priest in the Dominican Republic. The 10 charges against him followed testimony from more than 100 witnesses and covered sexual offenses over 12 years as well as counts of child pornography and illegal possession of ammunition.
Gil had told Poland’s state television last year he was a victim of fabrications.
“I pray for these children,” he said at the time. “I ask God that they forgive me if they ever felt anything negative toward me. On the other hand, I know I did nothing wrong.”
But the court in Wolomin, a suburb of Warsaw, found Father Gil guilty of molesting six altar boys and banned him from engaging in the education of minors for 15 years. It ordered him to also pay $42,000 in compensation to his victims and prohibited him from contacting them. Details of the case were read behind closed doors.
Gil’s lawyer, Michal Szreniawa, said his client planned no appeal of the conviction or sentence.
He also faces criminal charges in Rome for abusing children in the Caribbean country.
