Eric Dejaeger, Catholic priest, pleads guilty to sex charges

Disgraced priest Eric Dejaegerhas pleaded guilty in an Iqaluit courtroom to eight of 76 sex-related charges involving Inuit children.

The eight charges Dejaeger, 66, entered pleas on are allfor indecent assaultagainst male victims.

The trial will go ahead on the 68 other charges. With dozens of witnesses, it's expected to last about sixweeks.

Dejaeger looked solemn in the courtroom Mondaymorningand said nothing.

One of about 40 complainants in the case took the stand. The now40-year-old woman is from Igloolik, and was between five and nine years oldwhenshe allegesDejaeger sexually abused her.

She described a time whenshe said "Father Eric," as he was known, fondled her.Another time, she alleges he had intercourse with her in his bedroom.

She testified thatDejaeger told her it was sinful to tell a lie and that she would be taken away from her parents if she told them what happened.

The woman will continue to testify Mondayafternoon.

Allegations date back decades

The case includes allegations from Feb.19, 1995, when he was originally charged with three counts ofindecent assault and three counts of buggery, a charge no longer inthe Criminal Code. They relate to his time as a priest in thecommunity of Igloolik between 1978 and 1982.

In 1995, Dejaeger had just completed a five-year sentence, mostof it served in a halfway house and on probation, on 11 counts ofsexual assault and indecent assault against children in Baker Lake,where he was posted after Igloolik.

He was scheduled to return to court on the Igloolik charges onJune 13, 1995, but never showed. By then, he had left the country and was back in Belgium, where he was born.

An arrest warrant was immediately issued, but the priest was able to live quietly in Oblate communities in France andBelgium until he was returned in early 2011.

In 2001, Interpol putDejaeger on its red list of international arrest warrants.Ten years later,Dejaeger was arrested on immigration charges after it was discovered his Belgian citizenship was no longer valid.