THE US: News of the murder of defrocked paedophile priest John Geoghan at a Massachusetts prison has been met with dismay by the lawyer representing many of his victims.
"My clients would rather have seen John Geoghan be punished in a way seen fit by society," said Mr Mitchell Garabedian, who since 1994 has represented over 140 of Geoghan's alleged victims. Mr Garabedian said he was personally "surprised and shocked" by the news of Geoghan's death.
John Geoghan, who died on Saturday, was at the centre of the child abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in Boston and led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law last year.
Yesterday questions were being asked as to why a high-profile sexual offender like Geoghan was not better protected in a state prison.
Although Geoghan was being held in his own secure protective custody unit at The Souza-Baranowski Correctional Centre some 30 miles from Boston, fellow inmate Joseph Druce was able to gain access to him at around noon on Saturday. Druce attacked Geoghan, who was then rushed to a nearby hospital. He was pronounced dead shortly afterwards at 1.17 p.m. local time.
While an autopsy is not due until sometime today, it is believed that Geoghan died after being strangled.
Druce (37), who will be charged with Geoghan's murder, is serving a life sentence for another murder almost 15 years ago. A known white supremacist, he was also charged with posting threatening letters to a number of Jewish lawyers around the US in 2001.
How Druce gained access to John Geoghan has not yet been made public. That will be just one of the questions to be answered by an investigation into Geoghan's murder already set up by local District Attorney John J. Conte. The investigation will be run by the police, with the co-operation of the state prison department.
The sex abuse scandal involving Geoghan emerged after a judge ordered the release of internal archdioceses files that revealed the church in Boston was moving abusing priests from parish to parish, rather than following correct civil procedure and closing off offenders' access to children. Geoghan was in prison serving a nine to ten year prison sentence for the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy in 1991.
Another criminal trial for abuse was pending against the 68-year-old ex-priest, as were about 25 civil cases.
Last year, the Archdiocese of Boston settled the cases of 86 of Geoghan's victims out of court for $10 million. The church had earlier walked away from a proposed $30 million settlement.
Currently, the Archdiocese of Boston is offering $65 million by way of a settlement for hundreds of charges of abuse that have been filed against members of its clergy. The move is one of newly appointed Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley's initiatives to bring an end to the Boston church's recent dark history of child abuse.
Reacting to the news of Geoghan's death, a spokesperson for the Archdioceses of Boston offered prayers for the Geoghan family.
Many of Geoghan's victims lamented the fact that he would now not have to endure further criminal trials that would expose other crimes he had committed.