‘We live with a big burden’: US sexual abuse survivor hopes priest’s death brings closure

Keith Townsend says he hopes death of Ronald Paquin in prison helps victims and families to ‘keep pressing forward’

A survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a defrocked Boston Catholic priest who was portrayed admitting to molesting minors in the Oscar-winning Hollywood film Spotlight says he hopes the clergyman’s recent death in prison helps victims of his crimes and their families “keep pressing forward every single day”.

“We live with a big burden in our hearts and on our backs,” Keith Townsend said on Wednesday while reflecting on the criminal charges which he successfully pursued against Ronald Paquin, who was imprisoned in 2019 and died in custody at age 83 on 11 September. “And my hope is that people can find closure and move on.”