It could be the first lawsuit against the Catholic Church in California after a new law passed by the state government
Aimee Galicia-Torres, child sexual abuse survivor.
Photo:
Courtesy Jeff Anderson & Associates
Aimee Galicia Torres, 34, is suing the Los Angeles Archdiocese for being victim of sexual abuse during childhood, as stated in a press conference. The alleged sexual abuse was committed by the father Honest bismonte, then he cures in the church of San Antonio de Padua, in Gardena. This may be the first case presented after the California Governor Gavin Newsom, passed a new law related to survivors of child abuse (California’s Child Victims Act, in English).
Galicia Torres, Hollywood filmmakerHe states that he was a victim of sexual abuse by Father Bismonte since she was 8 years old, in 1993, and that the abuse lasted until he was 12 years old, according to the LAist portal.
Bismonte, who was ordained a priest in the Philippines in 1954, arrived in southern California in 1981, and worked in parishes in Los Angeles, Gardena and Pomona. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles says that the priest was removed since April 2002, when Galicia Torres reported his case for the first time. The priest was then arrested for abusing two girls more than 50 times since 1997.
The new law passed allows survivors of sexual abuse to file a lawsuit until the age of 40. This is because survivors usually take years until they can discuss the issue and report the facts.
"I felt so helpless, but now I have regained my power that Father Bismonte snatched me so many years ago," Torres said.
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