By Orowo Victoria Ojieh
A German Catholic priest was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Cologne court for sexually abusing children over several years.
The 70 year old priest has also been ordered to pay damages to joint plaintiffs of €50,000.
According to the indictment, the case against the priest covered 118 counts.
He was said to have abused children and adolescents over many years, his youngest victim was a 9 year old girl.
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The priest forced children to engage in sexual intercourse, oral sex and many other sexual acts.
The suspect was taken into custody during the trial because more victims came forward and there were fears that he may transgress.
The conviction came at a time of intense scrutiny for the German Catholic Church, after a recent independent report detailed decades of alleged sexual abuse and misconduct in the Munich Archdiocese.
