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    "headline": "Cardinal Ouellet Wins Defamation Case Against Accuser",
    "dek": "Quebec court rules Cardinal Marc Ouellet was falsely accused of sexual assault and awards him damages.",
    "prose": "The Superior Court of Quebec ruled on 31 August that Cardinal Marc Ouellet was falsely accused of sexual assault and awarded him $100,000 in damages for defamation. [^1]\n\nSuperior Court Justice Martin Castonguay ruled on August 31 that sexual misconduct allegations against Cardinal Marc Ouellet were false and ordered his accuser to pay him 100,000 Canadian dollars. [^2]\n\nCardinal Marc Ouellet stated he would donate the $100,000 damages award to organizations combating the sexual abuse of Indigenous peoples in Canada. [^3]\n\nJustice Martin Castonguay concluded that the allegations made by Paméla Groleau were unfounded and formulated with extreme recklessness equivalent to malice. [^4]\n\nPaméla Groleau, a former lay pastoral assistant, accused Cardinal Ouellet of non-consensual physical contact allegedly committed between 2008 and 2010. [^5]\n\nJustice Castonguay concluded that Paméla Groleau's testimony against Cardinal Marc Ouellet was neither credible nor reliable because she had changed her story several times. [^6]\n\nJustice Castonguay stated that the damage to Cardinal Marc Ouellet's reputation was amplified because the class-action lawsuit equated him with religious pedophiles in the eyes of ordinary citizens. [^7]\n\nPaméla Groleau accused Cardinal Marc Ouellet of touching her without consent on three occasions between 2008 and 2010 while she was training or working as a lay pastoral agent. [^8]",
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