Prominent Catholic figure’s sexual offences: Superior didn't inform police as it would be against both victims' wishes
SINGAPORE — The two teenage boys who were sexually abused by a prominent member of a Catholic order had refused to make police reports in 2009 when the case first came to light, it has now emerged.
This was revealed in a statement from the Catholic order to which the offender belonged. The statement was put up on the website of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore on Sunday (June 5) night as it gave more details about the case.
This came about a month after Archbishop William Goh, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Singapore, said that it was working with the offender’s religious order to investigate the background of the case.
In a separate statement on Sunday, the archbishop’s communications office revealed that its request to partially lift a gag order on the case was rejected by the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).
The gag order was imposed by the court such that the identity of the offender — who is in his mid-60s — the name of his religious order, and details of his subsequent treatment and posts could not be made public, so as to protect the victims’ identities.
