Miani came out covering his face, the boy was pulling up his pants, witness from Canada tells what he would have testified in Salesian trial

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By Kay Ebeling
Lead plaintiff witness Lester Howse carried a memory for 50 years of Titian Miani coming out of an infirmary red faced, after several boys said he was hurting them from behind, one boy pulling up his pants as Miani left. (Trancript below, watch raw video above.)

Howse traveled from eastern Canada to Los Angeles to testify in the Salesian trial, cases which settled this morning. Below he says what he would have said if he’d testified.

Q: Mr. Howse, what were you going to say in your testimony?

A: I would like to tell the story as best I remember it from 50 years, from A to Z but of course courts do not allow that. After 50 years it’s touch and go remembering everything around the incident that happened.

Q: What was the incident that happened?

A: Why they asked me to come down here was to bear witness to the sexual assault on a part of Father Jim Miani, at the institute I was in in Edmonton, Alberta Canada, and I did witness that he sexually assaulted a young boy.

It took place at St. Mary’s Boys Home, it was a cross section of population, primarily poor Indian and there were also white non Indian white boys, from poor families. That was about it, it was primarily Indian and white.

Q: What was the incident that you observed?

A: Father Miani, it was I believe 1957, we were in an area where you were only allowed for about 10 minutes after coming into the institute from recreation. You had about 10 minutes before what they call a write up, you have a write up if the bell rings.

And in that 10 minutes I was in an area near what you call the sick bay, some would call it, and the priests were right next door, where they were housed, where their rooms were. So I came out of the dormitory which is next to the infirmary. The infirmary is between the priests’ quarters and the boys’ dormitory.

And I heard a noise in there and there was a couple boys, three boys, standing by the door of the infirmary. And I heard them talking, there was something going on it was a half whisper. So I went down to see what was going on I thought it was a fight perhaps. But one of the boys backed up and he said that Father Jim was hurting him from behind. And when Father Jim came first of all the young boy came out because the bell had rung, so we had to be in assembly or lineup. So when I looked I started to move away.

It was Father Jim who came out with his, trying to cover his face and he immediately went into the priests’ quarters. A young boy was walking out pulling up his pants. So we know it was Father Jim. That's, see this is the one, and I know I witnessed, I know it’s Father Jim. There were other incidents that Father Jim’s name came up but I could not verify that one way or the other.

But I do believe those boys who had experienced sexual abuse on the part of Father Jim Miani.

Q: How many others do you know of?

A: That I know of? Well to my knowledge, I was a victim of the late [SOUNDS LIKE] Father Telek at the same school, and he was appointed as Father Confessor. We were forced to go to confession once a week to this man who attacked me sexually.

But I fought him, I fought back. He had me down, he had his hand on my crotch and he was breathing hard. This was right in what they call a sanctuary. I just finished serving his Mass as an altar boy. I still had the cossack on and he still had the cossack on and he attacked me. I kicked him, I fought, I just kept kicking and I know he was bleeding. He never bothered me again, but he did disturb others.

Q: Did boys at the school talk about Father Jim?

A: We did pass the word because at that time I was classified as a medium boy. See there was boys, medium boys, and little boys or small boys. So us medium boys had a ward, we had to take care of the little ones, so we would pass the word among us to watch out for Father Jim, watch out for Father John Telek, watch out for [SOUNDS LIKE] Father Ralph Simioni?

Q: There were three predator priests at the school at the same time?

A: Well Father Ralph I don't know about his sexual activities but he was very mean, he used to beat on people. He’d pull you out of the line and beat on people, he never did me. He’d slap you around a couple of times.

Q: I understand you've done activist work around this issue?

A: Yes I did an interview similar to this in the 1970s and also in 92 and that's how Cheryl (Buchanan, plaintiff attorney) became aware of me.

Q: Who interviewed you in 1972 about this?

A: A journalist from the Edmonton Journal and apparently the article had an effect on quite a few people, people writing in, in favor of and against what I had to say. But for me it was very disturbing in a good way for some of the boys who’d been in there, because they began to write in to the (Edmonton) Journal and respond.

I was so glad to hear from them and read and know that they're still alive.

Q: So in the Edmonton Journal is the archives with that story and the letters to the editor as well?

A: Yes.

Q: What did you have to go through to come to court today for the trial?

A: When the date was set I accepted and I started with a friend to come down and his car messed up, got another friend, crossed the border no problem. It was great. I met my granddaughter in North Dakota along the way, my daughter was there. So it was wonderful, it was a good journey.

Then a friend drove me to Denver to Grand Junction I believe it’s called and from there I took a Greyhound Bus. [LAUGHS]

More coverage in the post below. . .

Cut and pasted:

(Howse mentioned more than one boy.)

Q: How many young boys?

A: To my knowledge there was one. And I know there was others but I was not a witness to any of that, so for me to say any of that would only be hearsay as the court would consider it.