CHATHAM - The trial of a former Anglican minister facing sexual offences dating back 40 years began Tuesday in the Superior Court of Justice in Chatham.
Meurig Pari Lloyd, an 81-year-old Chatham man, is charged with 18 sexual offences including six counts of indecent assault, two counts of sexual intercourse without consent, two counts of sexual intercourse with a female under 14, two counts of attempt rape, two counts of rape.
The complainant is a woman in her 50s, who can't be identified because of a publication ban.
Seated in the witness box wearing a black and white patterned dress, the woman was steadfast in her testimony, often looking at the defendant as she recounted the years he sexually abused her.
Dressed in a dark blue short-sleeved shirt, blue pants held up by suspenders and open-toed sandals, Lloyd sat quietly in a chair beside his lawyer as he heard the woman recount horrific allegations.
The mistreatment started with his fondling her chest and groin area when she was nine years old, court heard.
The woman testified the abuse escalated over time by him inserting objects inside her vagina. Then digital penetration, oral sex and eventually sexual intercourse, two to three times a week until she moved away from, what was then, Kent County at age 15.
"You didn't tell your mother about all this abuse?" defence attorney David Jacklin asked the complainant in cross-examination.
"No, because he threatened that telling her would kill her and who was going to believe her over a man of the cloth?" she replied.
The complainant testified Lloyd gave her money, between five and 30 dollars a week.
"I'm suggesting he never gave you any money at all, other than a dollar here or there to get a treat," Jacklin asserted.
"Wrong," the woman replied.
Court heard it wasn't until 2009, when the complainant sought counselling that a police investigation was launched.
The crimes allegedly took place inside St. Paul's Anglican Church, Holy Trinity Church and a private residence.
Senior Crown attorney Randy Semeniuk told Judge Steven Rogin the complainant was his only witness.
Jacklin was granted an adjournment until Thursday to deal with statements his client made during the police investigation.
