Singapore Catholic Church to Probe Sex-Abuse Charges

The Kbnd
July 9, 2013

http://www.kbnd.com/kbnd-news/world-news-stories/355f515bd4b1b96e788636b11d0e67b7

The Roman Catholic church in Singapore has vowed to investigate any charges of sexual misconduct by its clergy after an Australian woman claimed she was abused by priests as a teenager in the city-state.

Singapore-born psychotherapist Jane Leigh, 36, said in an autobiography published last month that she had been sexually abused by two Catholic priests before she moved to Australia in 1995.

Leigh, now a practitioner in Melbourne, said in her book "My Nine Lives" that she was first abused by a priest in Singapore when she was 13. She alleged that she was abused by another priest when she was 15 after being sent to him for counselling.

Leigh used pseudonyms for both churchmen, but a Singapore newspaper reported over the weekend that it contacted the priests and they denied Leigh's allegations.

"The Church is deeply concerned with any report of alleged sexual misconduct by its clerics, staff and those who volunteer their services in the Church," the Archdiocese of Singapore said in a statement on its website Monday