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 previously borrowed thousands of dollars from Velan to buy a car, Mohel said. Now, he said, she has filed a lawsuit against Velan, Visitation Church and the Archdiocese of Trenton.
“This is a family that was getting day-old Tasty Cakes,’’ Mohel said, explaining that Velan would go around to a local baked good store to pick up day-old products and deliver them to poor families in his parish, including his accusers.
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.