Prosecutors seek 29 years for priest accused of sexually abusing his nieces in Ourense, Spain

The criminal case against Francisco Manuel M.L., a Catholic priest, is moving toward trial before the Provincial Court of Ourense. The Prosecutor’s Office and the private accusation, brought by lawyers representing the two victims, have filed their briefs of provisional conclusions. Both request a total of 29 years’ imprisonment for two continuing counts of sexual assault, which are alleged to have been committed against his two nieces when they were minors. The source describes the request as the most serious among cases involving an ecclesiastic in the Diocese of Ourense.

During the investigation, the accused denied having any sexual contact with his relatives. He maintains that the complaints are motivated solely by the sisters’ own interests. These statements are his position, and the charges remain allegations until any court rules on them.

The case followed a complicated procedural path. A complaint filed by the older sister alone did not proceed. In November 2020, the judge dismissed the proceedings after concluding that the reported offenses had prescribed because of the time elapsed since she was a minor. The case changed course in March 2023, when the younger sister filed a complaint alleging that she had been the victim of similar abuse by the same relative. The new allegations concerned a minor at the time and were not affected by the same time limits, which allowed the case to be reopened and led to the prosecution of the priest.

According to the accusations, the accused was a trainer at the Major Seminary of Ourense, where he had a private room and office. The prosecutor’s account states that he used his status as a priest, his religious standing, and his close family relationship to be alone with his nieces in several places, including the diocesan centre, family homes in Ourense, and residences in Málaga. For the older sister, born in 1991, the prosecutor alleges that the abuse began around her first communion, when she was about eight, and continued until she turned 17. The described conduct ranges from touching and other acts of a sexual nature to sexual assaults involving penetration, accompanied by alleged threats and physical violence intended to overcome resistance and ensure secrecy. For the younger sister, born in 1996, the filing alleges repeated sexual assaults between the ages of eight and ten, until 2008, mainly at the Major Seminary and in family rooms. Protecting children from people who hold authority over them is the concern these allegations raise (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Expert reports from the Galician Institute of Legal Medicine state that both sisters suffer from chronic and severe post-traumatic stress disorder, with effects on their personal, relational, and social lives, and that they require psychological and psychiatric care.

The prosecution’s requests also include prison terms and a prohibition on the accused approaching within 500 metres of the victims or communicating with them for ten years, followed by ten years of probation after release. In civil liability, the victims seek total compensation of €260,000 for moral damage and psychological harm, plus payment for medical treatment. If the accused is insolvent, they ask that the Diocese of Ourense be held subsidiarily liable. The request rests on the claim that some of the alleged attacks took place while he was exploiting his role as a trainer and the office and room he held at the Major Seminary.

Sources in the diocese have confirmed that since March 2023 the priest has been removed from the parishes entrusted to him and from other offices and tasks he held in the diocese.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Spanish)