German priest indicted on 267 child sex counts

German priest indicted on 267 child sex counts

2011-11-02 09:25:40 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRAUNSCHWEIG, GERMANY (BNO NEWS) -- A German Catholic priest has been indicted on 267 counts of sexual contact with children, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The 46-year old man is accused of repeated sexual assault on at least three boys aged between 9 and 15 since 2004 in the northern town of Salzgitter, where he ran a parish. No date has been set for the trial, the dpa news agency reported.

In 2006, Catholic authorities came under fire for taking no action when they learned that the priest slept with a boy in his bed one night. But the Diocese of Hildesheim has argued that there were no sexual contact allegations at the time.

The priest, who has confessed to most of the charges to detectives, was ordered to stop seeing the boy after the boy's family complained. The man, who has been in pretrial custody since July, was later arrested, according to the news report.

The Catholic church in Germany has faced a series of allegations of sexual abuse and brutal corporal punishment by clergy over the past 60 years. It has offered financial compensation to hundreds of victims.

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