Massachusetts Judge Awards $3M in Priest Abuse Case

A Massachusetts judge on Friday awarded a total of $3 million to two child sex abuse victims of a former Franciscan priest who served prison time for child molestation in a separate case.

Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders entered the judgment against John Dority, awarding one victim $2 million and the other $1 million. Both were abused in Boston between 1965 and 1971, starting when they were ages 10 and 13.

Their attorney Carmen Durso said Sanders said that no amount of money could compensate either victim for their suffering.

Dority, 70, was convicted of child molestation in Rhode Island in 2005 and released from prison in 2007.

A telephone message was left Friday for Dority, who lives in Coventry, Conn.

In interview in March, Dority told The Associated Press that he never answered the lawsuit because he couldn’t afford an attorney and because the allegations are true.

“What I did was completely wrong. I admit that,” Dority said. “I’m very sorry for the trouble I caused, the harm I caused.”

Durso said he doesn’t think Dority has the money to pay the judgments, but such cases aren’t about money for most victims.

“They want someone to place a value on their life and what they’ve lost,” he said.