CMC -A 39-year-old Roman Catholic priest has been slapped with several counts of sexual assault after he had been positively identified by a 12-year-old child and questioned in the presence of his attorneys on Monday.
Police said that the Kenyan national Lawrence Muvengi of the St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church, located at Christian Pen, Portmore, has been charged with having sexual intercourse with a person under age 16, sexual touching, grievous sexual assault, and abduction of a child under 16 years.
The priest is alleged to have assaulted the child on March 19 this year at his residence and a police investigation started after the matter was reported to the authorities on June 24.
In a statement on Monday night, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston said the priest had been detained by the police on July 5 following the allegation.
The Church said it would be cooperating fully with the relevant authorities on the matter as it acknowledged the implications and seriousness of the case.
In the statement, the Church said that the Archbishop “immediately removed the priest from all active pastoral ministry in the diocese,” and that it “wishes to express publicly its deep concern for all parties involved in this reported incident”.
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