COURT REJECTS CHURCH MOVE TO FAULT SEX-ABUSE PLAINTIFF

A Circuit Court judge yesterday struck down an attempt by the Catholic Diocese of Hawaii to place partial blame on a man who said he was sexually assaulted by a priest more than 40 years ago.  Alexander Winchester filed a lawsuit in July and accused the late Rev. Alphonsus Boumeister of sexually assaulting him when Winchester attended catechism classes in 1961 at Blessed Sacrament Church in Pauoa.  Winchester was 11 years old at the time.  Boumeister, who came to Hawaii in 1915, died in 1972 at the age of 84.

(Hawaii)