Hong Kong priest held over sex claims

Inside China Today/May 5, 2002
By Rahul Jacob

Hong Kong -- A scandal involving Hong Kong's Catholic diocese deepened over the weekend with the arrest by police of a former Catholic priest for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy more than a decade ago.

The assault by the former priest, who now works as an insurance agent, allegedly took place at a local boys' school affiliated to the church where he was a trainee priest.

The local Catholic diocese has been reeling from revelations of three cases of alleged sexual abuse of minors over the past 27 years, published in the South China Morning Post, the English language daily, last week. The case allegedly involving the 42-year-old former priest was one of those the paper uncovered.

On Saturday, the Catholic diocese in Hong Kong said it had received two more complaints of sexual abuse. One of the cases, involving another trainee priest who is alleged to have abused a group of boys more than 30 years ago, could bring more damaging revelations. A victim has said that he and other boys at the school had told the school's management about the incident, an allegation which the diocese said it was investigating.

The church in Hong Kong has said it took action against the three priests involved after internal inquiries. One man, an expatriate, was barred from any ministry involving contact with children. The man arrested on Saturday was expelled from the church while the third continued to work for the church but had been suspended from public ministry, according to the Post.

The Hong Kong police have picked Supt Shirley Chu, a senior officer and head of the local Child Protection Policy Unit, to head the special taskforce investigating the scandal.