The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Arnhem is investigating whether there is enough evidence to prosecute Bishop Cor S.* for the sexual abuse of an under aged boy in Kenya 25 years ago, a spokesperson has confirmed to Radio Netherlands Worldwide.
By Hettie Lubberding and Robert Chesal
Bishop S., from Oosterbeek has been interrogated by the police according to sources close to the accused, although today his lawyer told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that his client denies all allegations.
The Department of Justice has taken steps after a report surfaced earlier this year through the Commissie Deetman, a commission that conducts scientific research in the Netherlands into abuse within the Catholic Church.
The Commission refused to comment on the report, but confirmed that it submits serious complaints to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The police have officially registered the accusation following receipt of the report from the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Complicated Spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor, Ellen Prummel, confirmed the Arnhem Public Prosecutor’s Office’s vice squad is now officially investigating whether or not the case “truly indicates a penal offence, and if there are enough leads to warrant further investigation”.
Prummel could not confirm how long this will take. The fact that the victim is living in Kenya and has not notified the police in the Netherlands makes it a “complicated case”. It remains unclear whether the abuse happened too long ago to be prescribed under Dutch law.
Wounds The accuser is 32-year-old Michael ole Uka, claims he was being abused for years by various foreign priests in Kenya. He came forward in 2005 and informed the authorities of his allegations. Uka suffered severe injuries from abuse by several members of the clergy, which required medical treatment. Uka was apparently treated by the Catholic Order of Mill Hill in Kenya, to which the accused bishop belonged. The accusation against Bishop S. surfaced six months later, early 2006.
Uka has received financial compensation from the Catholic Order of Mill Hill. The Order also expatriated an Irish priest who is said to be involved in the abuse against Uka, but the Vatican has yet to relieve him of his duties.
School fees Uka says the abuse started when he was seven-years-old. Several members of the clergy ‘transferred’ him between each other. One of them is said to have been a Dutch priest who has since passed away. The abusers paid Uka’s school fees, which made him feel obliged to permit the abuse, even though he says, “I knew it was wrong what they were doing.”
First encounter “He gave me coffee, showed me my room and immediately started to touch me,” says Uka, describing his first encounter with Bishop S. Uka told of his apparent ordeal in a documentary shown on Irish television last month, which also featured the international head of the Catholic Order of Mill Hill, Anthony Chantry. Uka says Bishop S. began abusing him when he was 14 years old. Bishop S. was a priest in the diocese of Ngong in Kenya at the time. In 2003, Cor S. was promoted to bishop in Ngong.
“Bishop S. asked me whether another priest had touched me as well, and I said yes,” recounted Uka. “Then he told me to touch him too and do the same things I had done to the other priest. At the time I thought all priests did thess kind of things,” Uka told viewers.
Serious conversation According to Chantry, the case has not been reported to the local police because homosexuality is ‘still a crime’ in Kenya. In an earlier interview, Chantry told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that a Kenyan official has discussed the accusations with both the bishop and the victim. The Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Kenya and the Papal Nuncio, the Ambassador to the Vatican in Nairobi, have been asked to conduct an ecclesiastical investigation. Both declined to take action.
After repeated failed attempts by the Catholic Order of Mill Hill, according to a source who requested to remain anonymous, the Vatican finally intervened three years later. In August 2009 the Dutch bishop was summoned to Rome for a “very serious conversation” and immediately pensioned off. He has not returned to Kenya since retiring in Oosterbeek.
The other priest said to have been involved has been discharged. The Irish police are investigating the case.
No ‘justice’ Rome’s official line is that the Bishop S. has health problems. Since 2009 he has no longer been allowed to carry out the duties of a priest and has been put under surveillance. This makes him the first Dutch priest who has been punished by the Vatican for sexual abuse of a minor.
But as Michael ole Uka sees it, he has still not received justice. He says his life has been ruined, “while the bishop enjoys his pension in Europe”. Bishop S. denies the accusations and has until now been unwilling to speak to the media. Today, however, he told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, via his lawyer, that “Michael ole Uka’s accusation of sexual abuse is false.”
Bishop S. also added that he, “considers it inappropriate to issue a statement as long as the investigation is running.” Bishop S. further added that he regrets the media will not wait for the results of the investigation. *Dutch media do not publish the full name the of accused
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