ROME (ITALY)
Crux
November 9, 2018
By Claire Giangravè
Adding another layer of intrigue to the already complicated civil trial involving a Catholic lay group in Sicily, whose lay leader stands accused of sexually abusing at least ten underage girls, two of the witnesses have retracted their original statements and now say they were never raped or molested.
During a pretrial hearing, one of the witnesses said requests by the lay leader of the group to undress before him “didn’t mean anything physical,” adding that in her previous statements – when she claimed to have been sexually abused – she lied because she was frightened and her words were misunderstood.
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