{"id":40617,"date":"2012-05-05T22:13:53","date_gmt":"2012-05-05T22:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=40617"},"modified":"2012-05-15T08:35:36","modified_gmt":"2012-05-15T08:35:36","slug":"pedophile-buddhist-sanghanayaka-of-great-britain-and-the-sri-lankan-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pedophile-buddhist-sanghanayaka-of-great-britain-and-the-sri-lankan-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Paedophile Buddhist Sanghanayaka Of Great Britain And The Sri Lankan Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Uvindu Kurukulasuriya<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Uvindu Kurukulasuriya<\/p><\/div>\n

He was \u201cVenerable\u201d Chief Sanghanayaka Thera of Great Britain and chief incumbent of the Thames Buddhist Vihara and also Parivenadhipathi of the Vidyaravinda Pirivena, Pahalagama, Gampaha and Chief Lekakhadhikari of the Sri Kalyani Samagi Dharma Maha Sangha Sabha. From the 1st of May he is just a Somaratna<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

What Happened \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is worth to look at what has happened to him. Here is a brief account of the story. In May 2010, Child Abuse Investigation Command officers in the United Kingdom began an investigation into allegations of sexual assault and rape against the chief incumbent of Thames Buddhist Vihara Ven. Pahalegama Somaratana<\/a><\/span>.
\nOn Tuesday, September 14, 2010 a (then) 64-year-old monk was arrested on suspicion of an indecent assault and rape. The monk had tried to sell the temple and escape the country, but some of the management board members of the temple had opposed the move. The monk still tried to escape. But he was questioned at Heathrow police station and later bailed pending further enquiries.
\nHe was charged on September\u00a0 12, 2011 and further charged on November 11, 2011. On Friday, September 23, Pahalagama Somaratana Thero appeared on bail at Feltham Magistrate Court charged with rape of a female under 10 years between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick and indecent assault on a female under 16 years between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick.
\nPahalagama Somaratana Thero, had been charged with another eight counts of sexual abuse on Friday, November 11, the London Metropolitan police said.
\nAccording to the Metropolitan police, these eight indecent assaults on a female under 14 years of age took place between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 1986 at an address in Croydon. The 65-year-old Pahalagama Somaratana Thero appeared on bail at Feltham Magistrate Court on Friday, December 2\u00a0 and was bailed to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on December 20, 2011. The monk denied all charges against him. The first victim spoke of ten instances of abuse in the spring of 1978, including rape and five instances of sexual assault with which Somaratana has been charged. When asked why she had not come forward sooner, the witness said Somaratana had threatened that her \u201cparents would be angry and that her father would die\u201d. Prosecutor Richard Merz told the Court the girl had been enticed into the monk\u2019s room with fruit, Polos and told to sit on his lap. Later Somaratana is said to have cornered her in the temple shrine and raped her.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The former \u201cVenerable\u201d Pahalegama Somaratana, The monk with Mahinda Rajapaksa and The Thames Buddhist Vihara<\/p><\/div>\n

The second alleged victim, said to have been sexually abused in the mid-1980s, described to the Court that she remembered \u201cbeing alone\u201d in Somaratana\u2019s room on the pretence of discussing upcoming temple services. When questioned why she had only come forward about 25 years after the alleged assaults, she told the Court: \u201cAt the time as a child, I thought that it was all an accident. Looking back on it now as an adult, I know that this was definitely not the case\u201d. The Court was told that she went to the police after details of the alleged abuse were revealed during a hypnotherapy session three years ago.
\nGiving evidence monk Somaratana said that he did not remember the first victim during the time of the alleged rape and sexual abuse. He further claimed that as a monk he does not \u201ctouch people, especially women as it is wrong and considered a sin\u201d.
\nWhen asked by his own lawyer whether he attempted to rape the first victim or touch her in an inappropriate way during the said time, the Buddhist monk\u2019s response was: \u201cnot at all\u2026 no\u201d. The prosecution brought attention to the statement that the chief monk had made in his first police interview, after he was arrested in September 2011 at Heathrow Airport. He had suggested to the police that the first victim might have got him mixed up with someone else and also that she may have said it was him due to the victim\u2019s family having issues at that time with the monk.
\nThe prosecution team stressed that this simply could not have been the case. With regard to the victim getting Pahalagama Somaratana mixed up with someone else, the chief monk himself confirmed that \u201cpriests in their robes were distinctive\u201d and could be told apart. Further, the issues that he said he had with the victim\u2019s family which would have encouraged the victim to accuse him of rape and sexual abuse, was confirmed by both the chief monk and the prosecution team as only having occurred very recently in 2010. The victim had made the complaint about Ven. Somaratana to her sister much earlier, between 1991 and 1992.
\nPahalagama Somaratana, was convicted at Isleworth Crown Court on Tuesday, May 1, on four counts of indecent assault on a female under 16 years between January 1, 1977 and December 31,1978 at an address in Chiswick. He was found not guilty of the rape of a female under 16 years between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick and not guilty of indecent assault on a female under 14 years between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 1986 at an address in Croydon. He will be sentenced at the same court on June 1, this year. Despite this, some section of people domiciled in London were not willing to accept these charges against Somaratana. But now they are also in trouble, because of what he said in Court. One commentator said; \u201cMistaken identity was a really feeble excuse that the Courts have not accepted. By attempting to pass the buck to an unknown monk in this way, Bhikku Somaratana has not only tried to evade his responsibility, but also he has stained all other brother monks that had associated him and resided at those premises during his periods of tenure at those places. As a result of his claim, Sri Lankan Buddhists in London would now wonder who else amongst the monks that they know could be a child molester and rapist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mainstream Sri Lankan Media<\/strong><\/p>\n

The victims were very brave ladies. But the mainstream media in Sri Lanka would not help get their story out to the world. The mainstream media have been censored from covering this case of child sex abuse. It was only The Sunday Leader and a few websites<\/a><\/span> and BBC Sandeshaya that covered the story.\u00a0 This is clearly a public interest issue. Firstly, this story is about the welfare of children; child abuse victims are usually not willing to come forward, but they did. Secondly, this case is based on historical allegations. It is worthwhile for the public to know how Courts deal with historical allegations. Thirdly, Somaratana was a religious leader, who breached the trust of his followers. Finally, this same monk Somaratana is running orphanages in Sri Lanka. Why did the Sri Lankan mainstream media not cover this story? Why did they censor this story? Was it because of media suppression or are they under pressure from Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalists? Editors of Sri Lankan mainstream media should answer these questions.<\/p>\n

Sri Lankan Authorities Must Investigate His Orphanages<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to \u201cTHE GAZETTE OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA -Part II of May 7, 2010, the Pahalagama Sri Somarathana Nayaka Thero Foundation<\/a><\/span>\u201d, a private Bill presented in Parliament by Hon. Vijitha Herath, MP for the Gampaha District, Somaratana can establish and maintain institutions for educational and social service activities such as childrens\u2019 homes, elders\u2019 homes, hostels and other social service institutions. Now Somaratana runs the Pahalagama Orphanage in Gampaha.\u00a0 Talking this writer the head of the Colombo based \u201cJustice for Victims\u201d, Visakha Tillekeratne said, \u201cThey would like to unequivocally request the Government of Sri Lanka\u2019s institutions for child protection which are the Ministry for Child Development and Women\u2019s Affairs, the National Child Protection Authority and Department of Probation to look into the orphanage run by Ven. Pahalagama Somaratana. A monk convicted of sexual violence cannot be responsible or trusted with tender young lives. This orphanage ideally should be brought under state control or be handed over to a respected and credible organization to run. In the alternative, it can be closed up and the children transferred to other orphanages. The state cannot abdicate its responsibility by the children of this country.\u201d
\n\u201cChildren living in orphanages or homes are more prone to child abuse because of several reasons,\u201d a former Chairman of the National Child Protection Authority Prof. Harendra de Silva said. \u201cThey are powerless and have no parents or relations: to whom can they complain? Only to the authorities in the home who are likely to be the perpetrators or linked to the abusers through monetary or power gain. Some are dependent on the persons for employment and are likely to be silent \u2013 \u2018passive perpetrators\u2019\u201d, he added.
\nThe power wielders in the orphanage are often abusive.\u00a0 Both physical and emotional abuse is thrown at the children and they would be terrified of such a person. There is often blackmail through denial of food and throwing them into dungeons where they would perish, etc. (In an index case in the Katharagama area, the head clergy threatened to kill four sisters and imprisoned them by putting them in a dungeon in the room that was covered with metal sheets!) He abused them all. In the same case he used to phone a magistrate, the OIC and officials in the presidential secretariat in front of the girls and tell them how powerful he is! He also asked the girls to count 15,000 \/= from the donations telling them the OIC is coming to collect it.\u00a0 They have access to the children without scrutiny by others. Some of the persons getting employed in homes are people who are pedophiles and the same would apply to games masters, Scout masters and Hostel wardens and masters. However it must be stressed that only some may be attracted to these positions and not all. Ideally these persons should be screened before employment by psychologists and periodically reviewed. The children also have to be assessed with special emphasis on abusive episodes from peers and teachers.
\nSo, the Sri Lankan government must investigate this pedophile monk\u2019s orphanages and the Editor\u2019s Guild of Sri Lanka should clarify why they did not cover this story.
\nuvindu@journalist.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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