The priest who, two years ago, sexually abused a child from a locality in northern Moldova was sentenced to 12 years in prison. According to prosecutors, the 40-year-old defendant used the status of parish priest, persuaded the child to get into his car and took him to his home, where he sexually harassed him, IPN reports.

The case happened in July 2022. The Prosecutor General’s Office said that the defendant was swimming together with a number of acquaintances of his. The 12-year-old child approached them. The priest persuaded him to get into his car and drove to his home. There, he mentally forced the boy to get out of the car and go to the back of the house, where he sexually abused him.

At one point, a car honked at the defendant’s gate and he went to see who it was, asking the minor to wait for him. The child jumped over the fence and fled from the perpetrator’s yard. “According to the judicial examination report, the minor suffered psychological trauma, manifested by fear, feeling of insecurity, hypervigilance, impulsivity, intrusive thoughts, shame, low self-esteem,” reads a press release from the Prosecutor’s Office.

The parish priest from the north of the country was found guilty of non-consensual sexual actions committed against a minor under the age of 14. He is to serve his sentence in a closed prison. The sentence can be appealed to a higher court.

The defendant pleaded not guilty.