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| “ | I could have been a good priest, but he ruined me! He took away my life! | „ |
| ~ Douglas lamenting the sexual abuse he suffered as a child. |
Bobby Douglas is the secondary antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Silence". He is a seminary student who accidentally kills a transgender prostitute while vandalizing a church to expose the sexual abuse he suffered there as a child.
He was portrayed by Sean Dugan.
Early life[]
As a child, Douglas wanted to be a priest and attended St. Thomas' School, a Catholic parochial school in Manhattan. When he was 14, he was molested by one of his teachers, Father Mallinson, who also abused dozens of other boys. He went to another priest at the school, Michael Sweeney, and told him what Mallinson had done to him. Sweeney refused to go to the police, however, because Mallinson had confessed his crime to him, and telling anyone would mean breaking his vows. Sweeney left the school and went to another parish, while the school settled with Douglas' family and those of the other victims. Mallinson, meanwhile, eventually became a bishop.
After graduating, Douglas went to seminary school and tried to get on with his life, but the trauma of the abuse he suffered still haunted him. He became obsessed with exposing the Church, and particularly Sweeney, for doing nothing about the abuse.
"Silence"[]
One night, he sneaks into Sweeney's church and spray-paints "Peccavisti" - Latin for "You have sinned" - on the wall of the confession booth. Jamie Doyle, a homeless, transgender prostitute, walks into the church to have a warm place to sleep, and surprises Douglas in the confessional. Panicked, Douglas hits Doyle in the head with a flashlight, killing him instantly. Overcome with remorse, he puts a blanket over Doyle's body and places a rosary and candles around him as penance for what he did before he flees the scene. The candles set the booth on fire, however, prompting Sweeney to call the police. Later that night, Sweeney visited Douglas at his mother's house, takes his confession, and promises to help him.
Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit investigate Doyle's murder and come to suspect Sweeney of having molested children at St. Thomas' after learning of his sudden transfer. They talk to the now-adult victims, who all refuses to say anything because they signed non-disclosure agreements with the school. Detectives John Munch and Fin Tutuola talk to Douglas, who claims to have been volunteering at a soup kitchen at the time of the murder and that he does not remember Sweeney. When they show him a picture of Doyle's corpse, however, he bursts into tears and admits to the breaking into the church to punish Sweeney, saying, "He had sinned." The detectives search Douglas' room and find Doyle's purse and the blood-stained flashlight, giving them enough probable cause to arrest him.
Benson, Stabler, and Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot interrogate Douglas, who confesses to the murder and tells them about the abuse he suffered as a child; he says that Sweeney molested him to punish him for failing to expose Mallinson, and because he thinks no one will believe him if he reveals what really happened. He is charged with murder and held without bail, while Benson and Stabler arrest Sweeney for child sexual abuse after another student at St. Thomas' accuses him.
Soon afterward, Douglas is attacked in jail by another inmate, who stabs him to death; Douglas feels so hopeless and guilt-ridden that he does not even try to defend himself.
Ultimately, the accusations against Sweeney are proven to be untrue and Mallinson's crimes are revealed, resulting in his imprisonment.
External links[]
- Bobby Douglas on the Law & Order Wiki
