Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Tømmerup, Kalundborg, Denmark · 2018

Denmark: parish priest's ten-year sentence for decade-long abuse of eight parish youths upheld

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

parish priest of the Church of Denmark

Organization

Church of Denmark (Folkekirken)

Spiritual nexus

The court's own finding: he exploited the psychological authority of the priesthood and the trust relationships it created with the parish youths in his care.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2018-08-28 · conviction; upheld on appeal (final)

    Danish district court; Østre Landsret (Eastern High Court). Dan Peschack, former parish priest of Tømmerup, was convicted on 25 of 30 counts of repeated, severe sexual abuse of seven boys and one girl aged 12–16 over a ten-year period at the rectory, including intercourse and filming. The district court imposed ten years in November 2017; Østre Landsret upheld the sentence and a ban on serving as a priest in August 2018. The court found he exploited his psychological authority as priest.

Appellate history

  1. 2018-08-28 · undefined

    undefined

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • pastoral trust-building with parish youths
  • abuse at the rectory over a decade

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting final appellate disposition 'Landsretten fastholder dom: Tidligere præst i Tømmerup får 10 års fængsel for overgreb', Kristeligt Dagblad, Aug. 2018.

Reports the appellate confirmation of the ten-year sentence and the court's finding on exploited pastoral authority.

Related record

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