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Brick priest trial: What was on the tape?
By Kathleen Hopkins
TOMS RIVER – Jurors deliberating molestation charges against a popular Brick priest just reviewed a videotape of the clergyman acknowledging that he touched a 5-year-old girl, her 13-year-old brother and the children’s mother. On the videotape, about one hour and 15 minutes long, Marukudiyil Velan, better known to parishioners at Church of the Visitation in Brick as “Father Chris,’’ readily admits he touched the mother’s breast on the date in question, July 13, 2012, and that he had done so in the past in the process of hugging her. Regarding the children, Velan, 66, said he was resisting their inappropriate moves when he touched them. He denied, however, touching the boy inappropriately on a previous occasion in April 2012, when the pair were in his car en route to McDonald’s. A jury of six men and six women are deliberating the molestation charges against Velan, who is on trial before Superior Court Judge James M. Blaney. At the end of its first day of deliberations on Tuesday, the panel asked to see for a second time the videotape of detectives questioning Velan on July 14, 2012. The videotape previously had been shown to the jury during the trial testimony. The panel viewed the videotape again Wednesday morning. The topic of most of the videotaped interview with detectives surrounded the events of July 13, 2012, at the Brick home of the family that has accused Velan of the molestation. Hand on girl’s thigh On it, Velan readily admitted touching the mother’s breast that day. However, he said it was the 5-year-old girl who took his hand and placed it on her inner thigh, near her private parts, before he took his hand away as she sat on his lap. Detectives pointed out to Velan that he was much physically stronger than a 5-year-old, and his hand wouldn’t have been where it was if he didn’t want it there. The priest told the detectives the boy was pressing up against him, but he pushed him away. Only after repeated questions from the detectives did Velan acknowledge touching the skin of the boy’s private parts in the process. He said he told the boy’s mother to get him away because he was “hot.’’ The events occurred just prior to the family going out for pizza with Velan, according to the trial testimony. The children are now 7 and 13 years old. The boy and his mother testified during the trial, but the girl did not. Back to deliberations The jury resumed it deliberation after viewing the videotape. Velan’s defense attorney, S. Karl Mohel, has told jurors the family concocted the accusations to collect money in a civil suit they have filed against Velan, the church and the Archdiocese of Trenton. But Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Terry Ann Linardakis has pointed out the admissions Velan made to the detectives on the videotape. Velan, free on bail, came to the Church of the Visitation in 2001 from India but has since been barred from it after the accusations against him surfaced. He is charged with sexual assault and three counts each of criminal sexual contact and child endangerment. The priest has had a large group of supporters from the parish in the courtroom for most of the trial.
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