Sexual Assault Trial of Shrewsbury Pastor Gets under Way

By Gary V. Murray
Telegram & Gazette
May 1, 2012

http://www.telegram.com/article/20120501/NEWS/120509925/1116

A woman testified in court today that she was physically abused and sexually assaulted by her church pastor during counseling sessions aimed at treating her eating disorder.

The 45-year-old alleged victim was the first witness called by Assistant District Attorney Cheryl R. Riddle during The Very Rev. Charles Michael Abdelahad's jury-waived Central District Court trial on charges of indecent assault and battery, five counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and four counts of assault and battery.

Rev. Abdelahad, 55, of 14 Bryant Ave., Shrewsbury, the longtime pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral at 30 Anna St., is on a voluntary leave of absence from his position at the church, according to his lawyer, James G. Reardon Jr.

The complaining witness testified that she first met Rev. Abdelahad in 1987, after a suicide attempt left her comatose in a hospital's intensive care unit, and the young priest came to administer the sacrament of Holy Unction.

She said she and Rev. Abdelahad formed a relationship, but lost touch for several years after she moved back in with her family in Connecticut.

The relationship was renewed in 2007, when she moved back to Massachusetts and started attending weekly counseling sessions with the priest in his office at St. George's, she said.

The counseling sessions focused on her bulimia, according to the woman, who said Rev. Abdelahad told her she was succumbing to the influences of “demons” when she continued with her purging and self-induced vomiting.

She testified that Rev. Abdelahad later told her he believed she had been sexually abused by her father as a child, and that her eating disorder was a manifestation of the anger she still harbored over the abuse.

She said she initially denied that her father had abused her.

“That was just the start of everything bad,” the woman told Judge Andrew M. D'Angelo, who is presiding over the bench trial.

From that point on, she said, “Father Michael” would tell her she was being “disobedient” whenever she disagreed with him, and would grab her by the hair and pull her back down into her chair whenever she tried to get up to leave.

If she defended her father, she was beaten by the priest, she said.

At various times from 2007 through late 2009, Rev. Abdelahad slapped her in the face, yelled profanities at her, kicked her in the shins, struck her with his elbow and a miniature baseball bat, knocked her head against a radiator, pinned her down and tore her clothes off and bit her, the woman testified.

She also accused the priest of assaulting her sexually on more than one occasion.

“I was extremely confused,” she said, explaining that she thought of Rev. Abdelahad as her “spiritual father.”

When she complained about his actions, Rev. Abdelahad told her they were engaged in “spiritual warfare” and that her body was “a battleground,” the woman testified.

Introduced into evidence were photographs taken by the woman showing what she described as bite marks on her arms and breasts allegedly inflicted by Rev. Abdelahad.

Under cross-examination by Mr. Reardon, the alleged victim was asked if she was unable to tell the difference between a sexual assault and therapy.

“They were one in the same with Father Michael,” she responded.

She also acknowledged telling police that she sometimes let Rev. Abdelahad kiss her because she “wanted him to love me.”

Testimony was scheduled to resume tomorrow.