Saanich Priest Given Conditional Sentence for Sexually Touching Teenage Boy
Jeff Bell, Victoria
Volume 27 Issue 10, 11 & 12 | Posted: December 13, 2013
Philip Jacobs has been handed a five-month conditional sentence, followed by two years probation, for sexually touching a teenage boy while serving as a Catholic priest at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Saanich.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper chose on Wednesday to impose the conditional term rather than up to six months in jail as requested by the Crown prosecutor.
Gropper found the 63-year-old Jacobs guilty in March. He was acquitted on three other charges, including two counts of sexual touching and a count of sexual assault. Gropper said it was clear to her that Jacobs acted deliberately when rubbing his victim’s leg up to the groin, and that it was not something accidental or absent-minded as Jacobs maintained.
Philip Jacobs has been handed a five-month conditional sentence, followed by two years probation, for sexually touching a teenage boy while serving as a Catholic priest at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Saanich.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper chose on Wednesday to impose the conditional term rather than up to six months in jail as requested by the Crown prosecutor.
Gropper found the 63-year-old Jacobs guilty in March. He was acquitted on three other charges, including two counts of sexual touching and a count of sexual assault. Gropper said it was clear to her that Jacobs acted deliberately when rubbing his victim’s leg up to the groin, and that it was not something accidental or absent-minded as Jacobs maintained.
Gropper said the situation that led up to the offence, which saw Jacobs and the youth (who cannot be named) alone for study sessions, was a kind of “grooming” by Jacobs for touching in a sexual way.
Jacobs, who was parish priest at St. Joseph’s from 1997 to 2002, became involved with the youth and his entire family before the offence, Gropper said. The offences took place between Jan. 1, 2000, and June 30, 2001, court heard.
Jeff Bell, Victoria