CHICAGO - A paedophile priest and the Catholic diocese of Dallas, Texas, were yesterday ordered to pay $100 million in damages to 11 victims of his sexual abuses, the head of a paedophile victim support group said in Chicago.
Rev Tom Economus, head of Chicago-based The Linkup: Survivors of clergy sexual abuse Inc., said it was "the largest penalty of its kind" against the
Roman Catholic church.
Father Economus, a Catholic priest who was himself victim of sexual abuse by a priest, said his group had been supporting the 11 victims, now in their 20s, in their lawsuit against paedophile Rev Rudy Kos and the Dallas diocese. The victims said the sexual abuses occurred over an 11-year period ending in 1992
while they were aged between 9 and 16.
Kos (52), who was defrocked five years ago and is accused of sexual abuse of a child, was not present at the trial. He lives in California.