BishopAccountability.org
	Priest Was 'In Bed with Boys' The Star March 15, 2010 http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20100315041115465C982804 SOUTH AFRICA -- The Randburg Catholic priest accused of indecently assaulting boys at a First Holy Communion camp in Hartbeespoort told a witness he had only tickled the boys. Testifying in George Kirkhoff's trial in the Brits Magistrate's Court on Friday, Ursula Schaeffer, who was present at the camp, said the priest was only present on the Friday night of February 8, 2008. She said they had supper together and then put the children, then aged nine and 10, to bed. She slept in a room with the girls, he with the boys. "The children were wild and I hardly slept. The girls kept on giggling and talking. At 3am the boys were found fully clothed, with torches, sneaking out to look for frogs which they put into the girls' bathroom," she said. The two adults got up and reprimanded them and sent them back to bed. Kirkhoff left the next morning, but returned on the Sunday for a braai with the parents of the children. The next evening, Schaeffer received a call from Kirkhoff saying the parents of one of the boys had been to his parish house and shouted and insulted him, accusing him of getting into bed with some of the boys, including his son. "He denied it, saying he had only tickled them." Schaeffer was uncertain what to do, but then decided to go and talk to the five children involved after receiving a call from one of the mothers telling her the priest had got into bed with her son. "I asked the boys how they enjoyed the camp. We had a chat and it eventually came out from all of them that he had climbed into bed with two of them, holding them tightly. The boys helped one another to free themselves. The boys all seemed emotionally troubled," she said. Schaeffer phoned Kirkhoff and told him what the boys had said. He denied it. Three of the children gave evidence in camera. Two others, who have relocated to Germany, are expected to testify by camera or teleconference. The case, which has made headlines in Germany and Ireland, has been postponed until their testimony has been heard.
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