May 17, 2006
Where’s the motive in nun’s murder?
What follows is one layman’s take on the Father Robinson murder trial: Means, Motive and Opportunity; if I heard that said on police dramas once, I heard it a hundred times. Did Father Robinson have the means? Yes. Did he have the opportunity? Yes. But where’s the motive?
A satanic, ritualistic killing was one theory offered by the prosecution. That’s hard for me to accept. Rituals are done with meticulous care, and savored as long as possible by the participants. Ritualistic killings are not done on a spur-of-the-moment impulse in a semi-public location. Father Robinson could have easily used a ministerial pretext to lure Sister Pahl away to a secluded and secretive torture chamber.
Occult practitioners gradually work up to more sinister and wicked activities. Animals are usually abused and tortured first. Then after the Satanist has crawled deep into his dark soul a human sacrifice may be sought.
It’s hard to keep that stuff a secret, evil does not stand alone, someone must know if Father Robinson was active in the occult. It has also been suggested the murder was simply done in a fit of rage. Does Father Robinson have a history of violence? Is he quick to fly off the handle and lose his temper? It seems to me reasonable doubt could have easily have been established in this case.
Father Robinson may indeed be guilty, and he may have sprinkled ritualistic trappings around the crime scene to throw the police off track. But the notion of Sister Pahl’s murder being a premeditated satanic ritualistic killing, in the true sense, is a stretch, in my opinion.