Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Minas, Lavalleja, Uruguay · 2022

Uruguay: priest sentenced to eight years for repeated abuse of two sisters

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

Catholic priest acting as the family's religious reference

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

The defendant was the family's religious reference, and press coverage records that his access to the girls arose specifically within the scope of his religious work — the standing is what put him inside the household.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2022-02-08 · first-instance conviction and sentence

    Criminal court, Minas, Lavalleja, Uruguay. Gustavo Melgar, a priest of the Minas cathedral, was sentenced to eight years for repeated aggravated sexual abuse of two sisters, aged nine and thirteen when the abuse began. He had begun frequenting the family in 2014, describing himself as a religious reference for them and providing financial support. The abuse was disclosed in September 2019 and charged in 2021. His defence announced an intention to appeal.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • standing as the family's religious figure
  • financial support given to the family alongside the access it bought

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report 'Condenan a 8 años de prisión a sacerdote de Minas por reiterados delitos de abuso sexual', El Observador (Uruguay), 8 Feb. 2022.

Uruguayan paper of record reporting the eight-year sentence, the charges, and the defendant's role as the family's religious reference.

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