Victims confirm they expect monetary compensation from the Church

One of the victims of sex abuse by priests, Lawrence Grech said this morning that the Appeal Court decision confirming  prison terms on two former priests showed that truth had finally prevailed. He also confirmed that the victims would pursue claims for monetary compensation from the Church and said they expected to be treated in the same way as abuse victims abroad. Speaking outside the Law Courts, Mr Grech said he wanted to appeal to other victims of sexual abuse to come forward and speak up, thus releasing themselves from the burden they had carried for so long. As he did in the morning, Mr Grech described the Church as ‘an enemy’ saying that once the case became public, no real help had been offered to the victims. Instead, he said, the Church had spent considerable funds on lawyers, when the money could have been better used to help the victims. The Church, he said, should shoulder its responsibilities and the government should investigate its secret files to unearth more truth.  He said he was not prepared to forgive.