Illinois Jury Awards Former Altar Boy that Was Sexually Abused by a Belleville Priest $5 Million
A 47-year-old Champaign man who says a Belleville priest sexually abused him when he was a 13-year-old altar boy at St. Teresa’s Parish has been awarded $5 million by an Illinois jury. James Wisniewski says that Rev. Raymond Kownacki sexually abused him multiple times over five years beginning in 1973 and the Belleville Diocese covered up the abuse incidents.
Wisniewski, who filed the sex abuse lawsuit in 2002, will likely undergo mental counseling for the duration of his life to treat his post-traumatic stress disorder. On August 27, 2008, the jury awarded him $2.4 million in compensatory damages and $2.6 million in punitive damages.
Jury members found that the diocese knew as early as 1973 that Kownacki was a child sex offender and rapist but continued to transfer him to different parishes without letting members know about the potential threat he posed to children. One transfer sent Kownacki to St. Henry’s Parish, where he lived next to an elementary school and high school.
According to Belleville Bishop Wilton Gregory’s testimony, there were reports compiled in 1973 and 1982 that stated that the former priest had raped and impregnated a teenager (helping her to abort the fetus) and molested a number of boys, including twin brothers, at the Salem parish. A former Belleville vicar general, James Margasan, said he knew about a number of sex abuse allegations against Kownacki but did not investigate the matter or notify parishioners.
According to the Illinois Child Sexual Abuse statute of limitations, a victim can file a sex abuse lawsuit:
• Within 10 years of turning 18.
• Within 5 years of the abuse victim finding out that the abuse was the cause of personal injury.
Injuries from sex abuse can take a lifetime to recover from and you may be entitled to personal injury compensation for the harm you have suffered.
Jury awards $5 million to former altar boy in Belleville priest abuse case, BND.com, August 28, 2008
Man: Jury award in priest-abuse case `good start,' AP, August 29, 2008
Related Web Resource:
Illinois Child Sex Abuse Statute, Illinois General Assembly
