Priest facing more sex-related charges

Father George Smith is pictured in this 2002 file photo.

A Roman Catholic priest already facing more than 60 sex-related charges in western Newfoundland has had more filed against him.

The Crown has added seven more charges against George Ansel Smith, 74.

They include indecent assault, unlawful assault and gross indecency.

Police say the offences took place in six different communities between the 1960s and 1980s.

Smith is in custody. His next court appearance is set for September.

Smith, who worked in parishes from Newfoundland's southwest coast to the tip of the Northern Peninsula, was initially charged in December after a lengthy investigation by the RCMP.

Smith was working at St. Malachy's Church in Kinkora, P.E.I., when he was removed from his duties in 2010 after a complaint about an incident alleged to have occurred when he worked in western Newfoundland.