A 79-year-old Roman Catholic nun in Milwaukee could be sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing two middle-schoolers in the 1960s.

Sister Norma Giannini, 79, pleaded no contest Monday to charges she molested the boys when they were at St. Patrick School. Giannini was accused of repeated sexual contact with the boys, including intercourse, in middle-school classrooms, a convent and her home.

Sentencing was scheduled for Feb. 1 with a maximum sentence of 20 years possible. Giannini was allowed to remain free on signature bond.

"She decided to do the right thing," her attorney, Nikola Kostich, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "She didn't put the victims through a trial."

The two men said they're nowhere near forgiving her.

"She's like Dracula to me. How do you forgive something that's not human?" one of the victims, James St. Patrick, 53, told the newspaper.

Giannini was the first nun to face criminal charges for sexual abuse, The New York Times said.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 14 November 2007   

Source:

Archive