Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LOCK UP MONSTER MONK
Judges told 9yr term too lenient
A 90-YEAR-OLD former monk who sexually abused three boys should be given a longer jail sentence, the Court of Appeal heard yesterday.
Prosecutors argued the nine-and-ahalf-year term imposed on Vincent Lewis was unduly lenient.
Adjourning the case, senior judges requested more information on the age profile of Northern Ireland’s prison population and arrangements for dealing with any such elderly inmates.
Lord Justice Stephens also asked generally: “What arrangements are made by the Prison Service for someone coming near the end of his life?”
Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan said: “We want to get information about the age and profile of the prison population and we want to get information about how this prisoner is actually being dealt with.”
Lewis, formerly Brother Ambrose of Our Lady of Bethlehem Monastery in Portglenone, Co Antrim, admitted more than 50 offences over a 10-year period up to 1983.
He abused one boy while still a monk and targeted the others after marrying and moving to Annagher Road in Coalisland, Co Tyrone.
Following conviction the trial judge said he had inflicted lifelong damage on HE wanted to knock the stuffing out of his rivals but judges eventually got antsy about this image of an anteater at night by Marcio Cabral.
They have disqualified it as a winner in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards amid claims the creature is stuffed. The Natural History Museum in London had been tipped off that the shot features a taxidermy specimen kept at a visitor centre at Emas National Park, Brazil.
Five experts studied the photo and the specimen and agreed they were too similar to be different animals.
Judge Roz Kidman Cox said: “I find it disheartening that a photographer would go to such lengths.” Snapper Marcio insisted his picture is genuine. victims who had lost their right to innocence. Unlike the many good clergy, Lewis was branded “an evil monk”.
Earlier this year he was jailed and ordered to complete a further year on probation. But prosecutors contend too much discount was given because of his age.
Escorted into court by prison guards, Lewis sat with his head bowed and eyes closed for much of the hearing.
The case was listed for a further hearing next month.