Priest: ‘I Will Go to Jail to Expose Child Abuse’

Daily Mail, Monday, July 09, 2007: AN IRISH Columban missionary priest who is facing a libel case after making accusations against a suspected child abuser has vowed to go to prison if found guilty of slander. Fr. Shay Cullen SSC, helped to smuggle a camera crew into a Philippines jail last year to expose how young children were being forced to share confined cells with adult prisoners some of whom were convicted child abusers. But one inmate who was filmed saying how he will ‘look after’ the young children in prison is now alleging that the crusading priest libeled him in the now-produced documentary, which was aired on CNN.

The Dublin-born cleric, who has spent more than 35 years in the Philippines bringing hundreds of child abuse cases to light, now says that he would rather go to prison than pay out any compensation or fine in the court case, which is due to start next month. ‘If the case goes to court, I will not pay bail for my freedom. I will willingly go to jail in a symbolic gesture on behalf of the thousands of children who are unjustly imprisoned and who suffer unbearable danger from adult prisoners,’ said the priest, who has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Fr Cullen also hopes that the television production companies will back him up: ‘I expect to see CNN and ITV assist us in our legal battle for truth and justice,’ he said. After the documentary was aired new legislation was immediately introduced to ensure that children were no longer held in adult cells. But Fr Cullen, who maintains that some children are still found by his team of social workers in adult prisons, claims that certain local city officials are behind the court case ‘because they want to get me’.

‘The government’s jail bureau were shamed by the exposé of horrific conditions under which the children are incarcerated with adult prisoners, some of whom are even paedophiles,’ Fr Cullen pointed out. ‘They may be behind this because although the complaint was made by a former prisoner, he would have no financial means to file such a case or to even see the broadcast as he was in prison at the time.’
By Jason O’Toole
You are unlikely to read this story in our Irish Newspapers. Mozlink
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Contact Fr. Shay Cullen at the Preda Center, Upper Kalaklan, Olongapo City, Philippines.
e-mail: preda@info.com.ph
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