Sex abuse survivor to sue diocese that has reinstated priest
Ruth Gledhill, CHRISTIAN TODAY, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, 19 April 2016
A survivor of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest who has been reinstated by the Vatican is to sue the priest's diocese.
The New York Daily News reported that Megan Peterson's attorney Jeff Anderson is to file a federal lawsuit against the diocese in India.
Anderson will claim in the suit that the Ootacamund diocese has endangered children by reinstating Father Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul.
Peterson, who says she was a choir member and altar server aged just 14 when she was first raped by the priest in his parish office, told the Daily News in February that she believed the decision to reinstate Jeyapaul gave the paedophile priest a green light to molest children in his native India.
Jeyapaul, who fled to India in 2010 after he was charged with assaulting Peterson and another girl, was arrested in 2012 by Interpol and extradited. He pleaded guilty to sexual assault of the second girl in a plea deal.
He was sentenced to a year in prison but released soon after . . .
Winter Appeal 2023
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2023 has been a long year with many ups and downs for us all. As we close out the year, we at SNAP hope that you are feeling like you are on your way to being healthy, fulfilled, and happy. This past year has brought both successes and challenges. Thanks to the support you have shown in the past, we’ve been able to celebrate the good days and weather the stormy ones. Now, we are once again asking for your support as we work to support survivors new and old as we ‘Move SNAP Forward.’
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