Police laid charges against the bishop Sept. 25, 10 days after he had been stopped by a Canada Border Services Agent at the Ottawa airport. After a preliminary search, his laptop and other electronic devices were seized.
Lahey resigned his Antigonish See on Sept. 26. He turned himself into Ottawa police Oct. 1. He was released on a $9,000 bail and has surrendered his passport. He was ordered to stay away from the Internet, computers or cellphones and from children 18 and under.
On Oct. 13, the RCMP executed search warrants on Lahey’s former residences and offices in Antigonish and Sydney, N.S. Electronic devices seized at that time are still under investigation by the Atlantic Integrated Technological Crime Unit.
Lahey is represented by high-profile Ottawa criminal lawyer Michael Edelson, who successfully defended Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien last year against charges of influence-peddling. Edelson is also representing the former commander of CFB Trenton, Col. Russell Williams, who faces two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of two young women, and two counts of break-and-enter, forcible confinement and sexual assault against two women in the Tweed, Ont., area.
Lahey is receiving no assistance for his legal fees from his former diocese.
Bishop Lahey trial on child porn charges set for spring 2011
By Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News
{mosimage}OTTAWA - Bishop Raymond Lahey’s trial on charges of possessing and importing child pornography has been set for the spring of 2011.
The trial will begin April 26, 2011 and run until May 6, Assistant Crown Attorney David Elhadad told CCN.
The former bishop of Antigonish, N.S., is not expected to appear in an Ottawa court until his trial starts in more than a year’s time. Lahey has been living in a retired priest’s residence in the Ottawa archdiocese since Oct. 9.
The trial will begin April 26, 2011 and run until May 6, Assistant Crown Attorney David Elhadad told CCN.
The former bishop of Antigonish, N.S., is not expected to appear in an Ottawa court until his trial starts in more than a year’s time. Lahey has been living in a retired priest’s residence in the Ottawa archdiocese since Oct. 9.
Please support The Catholic Register
Unlike many media companies, The Catholic Register has never charged readers for access to the news and information on our website. We want to keep our award-winning journalism as widely available as possible. But we need your help.
For more than 125 years, The Register has been a trusted source of faith-based journalism. By making even a small donation you help ensure our future as an important voice in the Catholic Church. If you support the mission of Catholic journalism, please donate today. Thank you.
DONATE