Sexually abusive priest's prison death natural: inquest
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 | 6:26 PM ET
CBC News
The 84-year-old retired priest convicted of sexually abusing dozens of girls died of natural causes, a coroner's inquest has concluded.
The jury said Wednesday that nothing could have been done to prevent Charles Sylvestre's death at the Kingston Penitentiary on Jan. 22, 2007, the Kingston Whig-Standard reported.
Sylvestre's official cause of death was pneumonia, but he had other health problems such as age-related dementia.
Sylvestre pleaded guilty in October 2006 to 47 counts of sexual abuse against young girls at parishes in Chatham, Sarnia, London and Paincourt over a 30-year period.
At the time of his death, he had served less than four months of his three-year sentence.
Under the Coroners Act, an inquest must be held whenever a person dies in custody.
With files from the Canadian PressShare Tools
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