Paedophile Catholic Priest facing charges in US, Hiding in Kerala

A Catholic priest  Jacob Vellian, accused of child abuse while in the US is allegedly living a quiet life in Kerala’s Kottayam district with the support of Syro Malabar Sabha. The accused, while serving as a priest in the St John’s Church in Ohio State during 1973-74 had sexually abused a high school student identified as Ann Philip Browning. The priest, a native of Kottayam is currently staying in an ashram of the sabha in Kaduthuruthy. He eloped to the state when he was found guilty in the US.

The girl, who was continuously abused by the priest several times publicised the incident recently. The girl was mentally traumatised after the incident. A case was registered by the law enforcement department and the police following a complaint lodged by the victim.

The panel of the diocese of Kalamazoo, who conducted a probe on the incident, had found the priest guilty. The accused, serving as a priest in California, had left for the state when he knew that action would be taken against him.

Rev Paul Bradley of the diocese of Kalamazoo had requested the Pope to terminate him from service. Timely intervention of some sabha leaders in the state helped him reach home and settle in an Ashram in Kaduthuruty. Inmates of the Ashram and also the visitors are unaware of the background of Jacob Vellian.

Sabha has lots of experience in dealing with such cases. In Kerala itself, Sabha had to exert lots of pressure to deal with Sister Abhaya case. Verghese P Thomas who investigated Abhaya case had revealed to Chief Judicial Magistrate in Thiruvananthapuram that some of the congress leaders from Kerala has tried to influence the murder case by exerting pressure on the PMO when Narasimha Rao was PM. As per the American law, Sabha has to give proper compensation to the victim, once the case is proved. While this being the case, Sabha is trying to save the culprit by intervening and giving legal aids.

The details of this particular case is also available in the web site which is maintained exclusively to report such harassment cases against Pastors and Bishops. Victims account in this website reveals the dirty life of many criminal pastors.
http://bishop-accountability.org/priestdb/PriestDBbylastName-V.html

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