Retired Priest Faces 18 Additional Sex Charges

January 12, 2012

By: Beatrice Fantoni, The Windsor Star

Beckett Personal Injury Office's Scales of Justice's article image

with indecent assault last autumn.

Rev. Linus Bastien, who served as a priest in Essex County, was arrested on Jan. 11 and charged with indecent assault, gross indecency, sexual assault and sexual interference following complaints from seven victims.

The events date to 1970-1977 and 1988-1989 when Bastien was serving at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in LaSalle and St. Joachim Parish in Lakeshore.

The alleged victims were students at the former St. Paul’s school and St. Ambroise school.

Bastien, 85, has been released on a promise to appear in court on Feb. 14 in Windsor.

Four previous charges against Bastien will be spoken to in court today.

The four previous charges were laid this autumn after two former altar boys from St. Mary’s Parish in Maidstone filed complaints with police.

Bastien’s last posting before retiring was as chaplain at Grace Hospital. He served as a priest in Windsor and the surrounding region from 1951 until he retired in 1997.

The diocese of London declined to comment on the latest set of charges and referred The Star to a statement released in October 2011 after the first set of allegations surfaced.

“The Diocese is saddened by the news,” the statement said. “The Diocese of London takes any allegation very seriously and co-operates fully with the authorities investigating them.”

With files from Sarah Sacheli

bfantoni@windsorstar.com or Twitter.com/bfantoni

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

Drive Safely This June

June 1, 2023

Drive Safely This June

Read this month's blog to learn about motor vehicle accident prevention.

Read More
Beckett Personal Injury Office In Downtown London

June 1, 2023

Manitoba Priest Charged in Sexual Assault of Young Girl

Manitoba RCMP have charged a priest working in a remote First Nation community, after allegedly sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl.

Read More
Sport Canada Implements New Oversight Body and NDA Ban

May 18, 2023

Sport Canada Implements New Oversight Body and NDA Ban

Sport Canada has unveiled a range of measures aimed at reforming the administration of sports in Canada.

Read More