by Sean Chase
Daily Observer
PEMBROKE – A superior court justice has found a Pembroke priest not guilty of indecency and indecent assault.
Justice Martin James ruled Wednesday that the Crown had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Father Dan Miller had assaulted a youth in the early 1970s.
The priest, who had already pleaded guilty in 2013 to molesting five boys and was sentenced to nine months in jail, sat quietly next to his lawyer, Robert Carew, and listened intently as the verdict was read in a Pembroke court room.
Miller had been charged with one count of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency in connection with three incidents alleged to have occurred in the Deep River area in the early 1970s. The priest had served as an associate pastor at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish from 1970 to 1976.
During a two-day trial in October, the court heard testimony from the complainant, who claimed to have experienced encounters with Miller at the parish rectory office, in his car after a school dance and at a camp outing. The complainant, who was 12 at the time and a member of the parish’s youth council, had testified suppressing memories of the alleged assault. Those memories came to light when he saw newspaper headlines about the priest’s earlier charges.
After reviewing the testimony given by the complainant, who cannot be identified, James said he had to conclude that the accused was not guilty unless there was “credible and reliable evidence” that his guilt had been proven.
James pointed out that Miller, who had also testified, told the court he no recollection of the complainant or his family during his tenure at the parish. Miller further indicated no elementary student would have been a member of the parish council. He denied any assaults occurred in the three locations given by the complainant.
While James found the complainant to have no shortcomings or flaws in his testimony, and did not question the sincerity of his beliefs, the justice had to question whether the evidence given was reliable.
“The evidence of a credible witness can still be unreliable,” James said.
James noted that the complainant was able to recall another series of assaults he had suffered at the hands of a family member, but had suppressed this set of incidents until as recently as 2012. The complainant could recall innocuous details from these incidents after having no memories of them before, the justice noted. Finally, James found that the complainant had sat in on the other trials involving Miller and that his testimony may have been “inadvertently coloured” by what he had heard. James said ultimately he had to assess the veracity and accuracy of the witness in order to determine the reliability of the evidence.
“It is not enough to consider guilt or innocence by considering one witness’ testimony against another,” concluded James. “I am uncertain whether the complainant’s evidence is sufficiently reliable.”
Ordained in Renfrew in 1969, Miller served in parishes in Arnprior, Deep River, Eganville and Petawawa before 1999 when he was suspended by the Pembroke Diocese. Last year, he was convicted of offences that took place at Pikwakanagan First Nation in Golden Lake and Renfrew between 1969 and 1980. He received nine months probation, three years probation and was placed on the sex offenders registry.
Sean Chase is a Daily Observer multimedia journalist