{"id":40337,"date":"2012-05-01T21:11:20","date_gmt":"2012-05-01T21:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=40337"},"modified":"2012-05-06T09:57:39","modified_gmt":"2012-05-06T09:57:39","slug":"breaking-news-ven-phalagama-somartana-was-convicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/breaking-news-ven-phalagama-somartana-was-convicted\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking News: Ven. Pahalagama Somaratana Was Convicted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Colombo Telegraph &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_40206\" style=\"width: 293px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ven-somaratana-denies-the-rape-chargeshe-says-it-could-have-been-another-monk\/pahalagama-somaratana-jpg-display\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-40206\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40206\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-40206\" title=\"pahalagama-somaratana.jpg.display\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/pahalagama-somaratana.jpg.display-283x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"283\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/pahalagama-somaratana.jpg.display-283x300.jpg 283w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/pahalagama-somaratana.jpg.display.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 283px) 100vw, 283px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-40206\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Venerable Pahalagama Somaratana<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Ven.Pahalagama Somaratana, 65, of Dulverton Road, Croydon was convicted at Isleworth Crown Court on today,Tuesday, 1, \u00a0May, of four counts of indecent assault on a female under 16 between January 01, 1977 and December 31,1978 at an address in Chiswick.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He will be sentenced at the same court on 1 June.<\/p>\n<p>He was found not guilty of the rape of a female under 16 between January 1,1977 and December 31,1978 at an address in Chiswick and not guilty of indecent assault on a female under 14 between January 01,1985 and December 31, 1986 at an address in Croydon.<\/p>\n<p>In May 2010 Child Abuse Investigation Command officers began an investigation into historical allegations of indecent assault and rape.\u00a0On Tuesday, 14 September 2010 a (then) 64-year-old monk was arrested on suspicion of an historical indecent assault and rape. He was questioned at Heathrow police station and later bailed pending further enquiries<\/p>\n<p>He was charged on 12 September 2011 and further charged on 11 November 2011.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, 23 September\u00a0Pahalagama Somaratana thero\u00a0chief incumbent of Thames Buddhist Vihara,\u00a0of Dulverton Road, Croydon appeared on bail at Feltham Magistrates\u2019 Court charged with rape of female under 16 between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick and indecent assault on a female under 16 between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick.<\/p>\n<p>Pahalagama Somaratana Thero, has been charged with another eight counts of sexual abuse on Friday, 11 November, the London Metropolitan police told Colombo Telegraph. According to the metropolitan police these eight indecent assaults on a female under 14 took place between January 01,1985 and December 31,1986 at an address in Croydon.The 65-year-old Pahalagama Somaratana thero appeared on bail at Feltham Magistrates\u2019 Court on Friday, 2 December and was bailed to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on December 20, 2011.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read related stories\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Pahalagama+Somaratana+&amp;x=10&amp;y=5\">here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":40206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[2585,2587,2586,2553,2584],"class_list":["post-40337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories","tag-london-buddhist-monk-rape-case","tag-pahalagama-somaratana-latest-news","tag-pahalagama-somaratana-rape-case-latest","tag-pahalagama-somaratana-rape-case-news","tag-phalegama-somaratna-monk-rape-latest"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Breaking News: Ven. 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