The Standard
June 25, 2008
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=67702&sid=19504908&con_type=3
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun is set to testify in a case against the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese brought by a man who was sexually abused in his youth by a former priest.
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High Court Judge John Saunders has set the hearing for July 7.
The victim is suing former clergyman Michael Lau Ka-yee and the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong for damages. He claims that sexual offenses allegedly committed against him by Lau have contributed substantially to his prolonged mental illness.
Judge Saunders yesterday approved an application by the defense to call Zen, head of the Catholic church in Hong Kong, and Vicar General Dominic Chan Chi-ming to give evidence.
The victim's mother and sister as well as a doctor will also be called to testify.
Lau, now 47, was arrested on May 4, 2002. He was jailed in February 2003 for 4 years after being found guilty of two charges of indecent assault, one of gross indecency and another of attempted buggery.
Lau resigned from the priesthood on September 15, 1995, and became an insurance agent.
During the 2003 hearing, the court was told the boy, now 32, threatened to go to police with the allegations in 1995.
Lau said he had also been sexually abused when he was young.
The victim said Lau had not only been a priest but was a family friend who had counseled them after his father was diagnosed with cancer.
The victim told the court that on January 4, 1991, Lau - who was the spiritual director
of the Altar Boys' Association at the time - phoned the victim, then 15, and invited him
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to his dormitory.
The defendant then molested him on the pretext of what he called sexual therapy.
The victim was asked to stay overnight with the priest. They slept naked in the same bed and Lau sexually assaulted him. The next morning, Lau asked him to kiss him and call him Daddy.
The victim said that the next day, he asked Lau to swear on the Bible that what had happened was not evil, but Lau refused.
Lau was the first Catholic priest to be convicted in Hong Kong of sexually abusing an altar boy.
Lau was released from jail in January 2006.
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