GERMANY
The Local
A monk and former teacher at a boarding school in the Bavarian alps pleaded not guilty on Thursday at his trial for abusing two pupils and attempted abuse of two more.
Jürgen R., a 44-year-old priest and teacher at the Ettal monastery school, told the judge in Munich that “all accusations laid against me are untrue” when he appeared to hear the charges.
He claims that he did nothing more than stroke the children on their backs and stomachs, saying that his mother did the same thing to him when he came to her for comfort.
“At that time I was in the place of the father and the mother” for the children in his care at the boarding school, he said.
Although he apologized for not maintaining the proper distance from the children, he argues that they came to him to cry on his shoulder due to his position as a “prefect” – the title given to teachers at the Benedictine monastery in the Ammergau Alps.
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