Woman Claims Assault by Priest in Viral Facebook Video
By Deeply disturbing.
These are the words used by Mount Saint Benedict in responding to a viral Facebook video of a woman claiming she was sexually assaulted by a priest from the Mount from age seven to 12. The Mount said the allegations in the video are currently under review. “We shall continue to monitor our policies and controls to prevent incidents of this nature,” the Mount said in a statement on its Facebook page yesterday. The Mount said the monk against whom the allegations were made is formerly associated with the Mount Saint Benedict Monastery and St Bede’s Vocational School. The Mount Saint Benedict said it took the allegations raised in the video very seriously and strongly condemned harassment and abuse of any kind. “Such actions are contrary to the principles and teachings of the Church and monastic life. We shall be in contact with the young woman concerning the contents of the video and we extend our prayers and support to her at this time,” the Mount stated. ‘He took my innocence’ In the ten minute video posted on Facebook by online news site T&T Hardcore News, the woman alleged that the rape occurred at St Bede’s Vocational School. “He was a teacher here and also a priest. He had an office in the back…and this is where the first incident happened where he told me if I say anything or do anything or even murmur anything to my mother that I would die and he will kill my whole family,” she said. “And then I start to wonder who God they really serving if you’re telling me you will kill my whole family and you take my innocence away from me. He just grab me by my two hands. I was just seven years of age. This man (name called) raped me….,” she lamented. “At that time, at seven years, who would have heard me. Who would have even begun to think that this child could tell this story and people will say she lying…because they don’t believe children. That is how it was, that is the stigma,” she went on. The woman claimed that after being raped, the priest poured peroxide on her private parts. She said the sexual assault continued for five years and despite speaking out about it, no one listened. “I cut my wrist. I took about over 200 tablets…but God had a plan for me. He told me that,” she said. She claimed that over 20 incidents of rape occurred at the vocational school before it was renamed. “The rest of incidents started to take place on the Mount, in the Monastery itself,” she alleged. The woman said she is now 40 but the incident continues to haunt her. “This is me revealing the truth. As much as it’s painful I need to get it out because it’s holding me back. It’s years it took me to realise it’s holding me back and it won’t stop. When I lay down to sleep in the night all I’m seeing is this priest on top of me,” she said. “I know people might be thinking why I didn’t fight. I tried to several times,” she added.
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