NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Kathleen Hopkins, @Khopkinsapp October 8, 2014

TOMS RIVER – Did a popular parish priest take advantage of a trust to molest a mother and her two children, or did the family concoct the story for financial reasons?

Those were two scenarios presented to a jury Wednesday as Marukudiyil Velan, known to parishioners at the Church of the Visitation in Brick as “Father Chris,’’ went on trial on molestation charges.

“We’re here today because there ias a shattering of trust,’’ Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Terry Ann LInardakis told the jury. “We’re here today because Mr. Velan took advantage of the relationship he had with this family and touched them inappropriately.’’

But defense attorney S. Karl Mohel, referring to the defendant throughout his opening argument as Father Chris, said his client is innocent, and his accusers have financial motives for falsely accusing him.

The mother had…