Timor-Leste: American ex-priest convicted of abusing girls at the orphanage he ran
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Material that narrows or disputes the record
Appellate history
2022
Appeal rejected; conviction stands.
Record class
Core record
Evidence status
Convicted
Authority role
Catholic priest, founder and director of an orphanage
Organization
Topu Honis shelter, Oecusse
Archive classification
This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.
The victims were orphaned girls resident in a shelter founded and directed by a priest — his religious office and custodial control were one and the same authority.
- Pastoral or clerical authority
- Institutional obedience or isolation
Evidence structure
Proceedings
2021-12-21 · conviction and sentence; appeal rejected
Oecusse court, Timor-Leste. Richard Daschbach, an American ex-priest who ran the Topu Honis orphanage in the Oecusse enclave from 1992, was convicted on five counts of sexual abuse of minors in his care and sentenced to twelve years (individual counts totalling over 37 years, legally accumulated to a single term). A Timorese court rejected his appeal. It was the first clergy sexual-abuse case to reach trial in Timor-Leste.
Documented coercion mechanisms
- total custodial and spiritual authority over resident orphaned girls
Cited record
Sources
- national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report 'Ex-padre condenado a 12 anos de prisão por abuso de menores em Timor-Leste', Público, 21 Dec. 2021.
Portugal's paper of record reporting the conviction, the accumulated sentence, and the case's landmark status.
Source provenance
Source access and integrity log
This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.
- Source and tier basis
- https://www.publico.pt/2021/12/21/mundo/noticia/expadre-condenado-12-anos-prisao-abuso-menores-timorleste-1989394 Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: verdict-and-sentencing-report.
- Retrieval
- 2026-07-27 · Retrieval failed
- Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
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Related record
Related cases · Christian institutions & contexts
- 2018 · Harrisburg, PA, USA PA grand jury: 301 priests, 1,000+ child victims documented ('weaponized' faith)
- 2009 · Dublin, Ireland Ryan Commission: abuse 'endemic' in Catholic-run institutions (state inquiry)
- 2021 · Paris, France CIASE/Sauvé Report: est. 216,000 abused by French clergy since 1950
- 2019 · Vatican City McCarrick: ex-cardinal found guilty by Vatican canonical process, laicized
- 2010 · Oregon City, OR, USA Beagley faith-healing death: parents convicted (criminally negligent homicide)
- 2014 · Philadelphia, PA, USA Schaible: 3rd-degree murder, second child dead of untreated pneumonia
- 2001 · London, UK Victoria Climbié: murder convictions; possession belief; Laming Inquiry followed
- 2012 · London, UK Kristy Bamu: kindoki 'deliverance' murder convictions (30/25-yr minimums)