The Roman Catholic Diocese of Prince George and a private school in the Lower Mainland avoided a civil trial in BC Supreme Court and settled with an alleged victim for $3.4 million.
In September 2021, a former student, known in the statement of claim as John Doe, accused former O’Grady Catholic High School teacher Alfred Patrick Quigley of sexual and psychological abuse at the school and during a visit to St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby. The incidents allegedly took place between 1991 and 1994.
Quigley, now 75, was a member of the Congregation of Christian Brothers and also taught at the group’s notorious Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John’s, where hundreds of boys were sexually abused.
The settlement came Monday, Feb. 10, a day before the scheduled beginning of a trial expected to last almost five weeks.
Quigley denied the allegations, did not show up for pre-trial questioning by the plaintiff’s lawyer and has not been criminally charged.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Prince George, O’Grady and St. Thomas More schools claimed in their defence statements that they were unaware of Quigley’s misconduct and denied they were negligent.
