Man in fifty years, indicted for facts reported to justice by the Archbishopric of Martinique was placed in pre -trial detention.
MO12345LEMOND With AFP
A priest of the diocese of Martinique was indicted for rape and placed in pre-trial detention this weekend, the Fort-de-France prosecutor’s office said on Sunday December 4 at the Agency France-Press.
The man, aged about fifty years and who was chaplain in a hospital, is prosecuted for rape by person who abused the authority conferred on him. He was placed in pre -trial detention at the Ducos penitentiary center, in the center of the West Indian island.
The facts date back to 2019 and concern an alleged victim, revealed the prosecution; Others appear in the file but without causing for the moment of prosecution against the man of the church.
The acts were reported by the Archbishopric of Martinique “in accordance with the protocol provided for the transmission to justice of the reports of sexual abuse within the Church,” said the archbishopric in a press release. The alleged rapist was arrested Thursday following this report. 2>
“immense sadness” of the archbishop
“It is very important that a person can speak and trust the authorities,” reacted the Archbishop of Martinique, David Macaire, on the Local radio RCI . “Personally, it’s an immense sadness,” he added. The archbishopric indicates that it has set up a “neutral and confidential” listening cell in order to “welcome each case in the most suitable way”.
In October 2021, the independent committee on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church had counted only a victim in Martinique among the six reported in the overseas. A figure judged at the time very below reality.
On November 6, a priest officiating within the diocese of Rennes had already been indicted, in Paris, and placed in pre -trial detention, for “aggravated rape on a teenager” and “provocation of minor for use drugs “. The 50 -year -old is suspected of having administered to a 15 -year -old adolescent, met via an application, a substance without his knowledge in order to alter his discernment and the control of his actions.