Police in Kerala state arrested a 41-year-old Catholic priest December 8 on charges of sexually assaulting a girl repeatedly for three months while serving as a parish priest in the southern Indian state.
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Father Edwin Figarez, 43, is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in the Catholic community.
The crime was exposed when the woman’s school observed behavioural modifications in her and she informed her parents about the awful ordeal.
On Tuesday, he surrendered at the Vadakkekkara police station in Ernakulam and revealed that he was hiding in Bengaluru for some months.
In her complaint, the girl’s mother had alleged that the priest abused her daughter many times when she sought his services for confession. Her parents right away began police and a medical checkup confirmed the sexual abuse.
The police said that the priest was exploiting the girl’s interest in music.
Following this, the police were hot on the pursuit of his relatives, including two of his brothers, who had moved the High Court of Kerala seeking an anticipatory bail. He was questioned by police after he went back to India on May 2.
Mr Figarez had been missing ever since the High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea on May 5. The Kottapuram diocese finally dismissed the statements against the priest but suspended him after police confirmed the charges.
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The incident happened when the accused, Father Edwin Figarez, was attached with the Kottapuram diocese in north Kerala.
