Catholic Priest Of Kenyan Descent Sentenced To 5 Years For Molesting A Girl In Virginia

By Mwakilishi | Fri, 02/18/2011 04:50PM -0400

Felix Owino

A Catholic priest who at one time worked in West Virginia received a suspended sentence Friday in a Virginia courtroom in a sex-related case.

Fr. Felix C. Owino was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison after a previous guilty to plea to aggravated sexual battery involving an 11-year-old girl.

The judge suspended five years of the sentence and ordered Owino to jail for nine months. He was given credit for the seven months he has already been in custody.

The 44-year-old Owino, a native of Kenya, at one time was the pastor at St. Paul's Parish in Weirton. He also worked at Wheeling Jesuit University.

The group SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, expressed disappointment with Friday's sentencing.

http://www.wvmetronews.com/index.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=43369

Related Article: http://mwakilishi.com/content/articles/2010/09/29/a-priest-of-kenyan-descent-pleads-guilty-to-sexual-battery-in-virginia.h

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Fri, 02/18/2011 06:02PM -0400

Judy Jones

Statement by Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511, SNAPJudy@gmail.com

Fr. Felix C. Owino was sentenced today to for 5 years, ALL suspended except for 9 months, of with he has already served 7 ½ months, so he only has 1 ½ months left behind bars for molesting an 11 year old girl. We applaud the little girl and her mother for calling the police and helping prosecutors get this child predator away from kids, although we are disappointed the judge did not sentence Owino for more time.

Now more than ever, we urge anyone else who has knowledge or has been abused by this priest to contact law enforcement so that kids can be safer.

Owino worked in four dioceses (Pittsburgh PA, Allentown PA, Manchester NH and Wheeling WV) and spent time at three Catholic colleges ( Duquesne University, Magdalen College and Wheeling Jesuit College). His last assignment was pastor of St Paul's parish in Weirton, WV. Owino is a native of Nairobi, Kenya. His photo and work history is available at http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/Owino_Felix_aj.htm.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We've been around for 22 years and have more than 10,000 members. Despite the word "priest" in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers.

Our website is SNAPnetwork.org

Contact: Judy Jones, (636-433-2511, snapjudy@gmail.com),
David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com),
Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com),
Peter Isely (414-429-7259, peterisely@yahoo.com),
Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com) __________________________________________________________________________________________

Sat, 02/19/2011 06:25PM -0400

Khavai64

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Joined: Sat, 02/19/2011 05:26PM -0400

Sad, indeed

Mon, 02/21/2011 12:44PM -0400

CThuku

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Joined: Mon, 02/21/2011 12:34PM -0400

I knew this was coming since the first time the story surfaced. I expected a worse verdict but the guy is lucky. It is disgusting to see such hipocricy. Hope other preachers will learn from this.