HAWAII
Hawaii News Now
[with video]
By Lisa Kubota
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A new civil lawsuit accuses a former Damien Memorial School chaplain of sexually assaulting two former students in the early 1980’s. Father Gerald Funcheon worked at the school from 1982 to 1984. He is accused of molesting the alleged victims, identified as John Roe No. 9 and John Roe No. 10, multiple times.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers are also representing another former student, Kory Oakland, who filed a sex abuse lawsuit last year. The attorneys released excerpts of Funcheon’s testimony filmed under oath in September 2012 for that case. Attorney Jeff Anderson asked him about reports that there may have been roughly 50 victims over several decades during assignments across the country.
Q: “Do you think you remember the numbers of kids, those are people, youth under the age of 18, with whom you engaged in some sexual conduct or contact?”
A: “Over my lifetime?”
Q: “While a priest.”
A: “Yeah, I would say a dozen.”
Q: “There are some reports where it’s far in excess of that by your own report. Do you think you might be underestimating that number?”
A: “Wow, I — I couldn’t count ’em up. I’ll go — I don’t know. I’ll go 18. I — I don’t — I can’t give you a number on this. Okay?”
“He demonstrates the mind of the molester. He admits a few things but denies, minimizes and blames others,” said Anderson.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.