Friend Said Priest's Accuser Told Him Years Earlier of Assault

By Peter Smith
Post Gazette
November 7, 2019

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/faith-religion/2019/11/07/Hugh-Lang-sexual-abuse-Catholic-priest-grand-jury/stories/201911070136

Driving his friend home after a night of drug use back in 2010, David Hamilton said his passenger directed him through unfamiliar streets and had him stop outside St. Therese Catholic Church in Munhall.

“He started flipping out and breathing heavily and said he was going to kill the priest who molested him,” Mr. Hamilton testified Thursday in the second day of the trial of the Rev. Hugh Lang, who faces charges of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy in 2001.

Mr. Hamilton, an active-duty U.S. Marine corporal attired in dress uniform, said he quickly drove off before his friend could act on his threat.

Mr. Hamilton testified that this was the second time that the alleged victim spoke to him of the assault, in both cases years before the accuser brought the case to the police. In neither instance did Mr. Hamilton testify that his friend identify the priest by name, although St. Therese is where the alleged victim says he was abused and where Father Lang had been assigned.