A priest from the diocese of Martinique was indicted for rape and remanded in custody this weekend, the Fort-de-France prosecutor’s office told Agence France-Presse on Sunday (December 4th).
The man, in his fifties and who was a chaplain in a hospital, is being prosecuted “for rape by a person who abused the authority conferred on him by his function”. He was placed in pre-trial detention at the Ducos penitentiary center, in the center of the Caribbean island.
The facts date back to 2019 and concern an alleged victim, the prosecution revealed; others appear in the file but without causing for the moment of continuation against the man of the Church.
The acts were reported by the Archdiocese of Martinique “in accordance with the protocol provided for the transmission to justice of reports of sexual abuse within the Church”, underlined the archdiocese in a press release. The alleged rapist was arrested Thursday following this report.
“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 RCI local radio. “Personally, it’s a huge sadness”, he added. The archdiocese specifies that it has set up a listening cell “neutral and confidential” for’“Help each case in the most appropriate way”.
In October 2021, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church had counted only one victim in Martinique among the six reported overseas. A figure judged at the time to be far below reality.
On November 6, a priest officiating in the diocese of Rennes had already been indicted in Paris and placed in pre-trial detention, for “aggravated rape of a teenager” and “incitement of a minor to the use of narcotics”. The 50-year-old is suspected of having administered to a 15-year-old teenager, met through an application, a substance without his knowledge in order to alter his discernment and the control of his actions.