Priest’s Parole Nearly Abused Her Once More

By Dianne Williamson
Telegram & Gazette
July 12, 2012

http://www.telegram.com/article/20120712/COLUMN01/107129846/1101/raw_headlines

For more than three years, Susan Manter endured humiliating physical abuse from a trusted priest she had turned to for counseling. After she summoned the strength to testify against him in criminal court, friends and fellow parishioners turned their backs on her.

So when the Rev. Charles M. Abdelahad was found guilty May 25 of two counts of assault and battery, she felt only partial vindication. While grateful that the judge believed her, she was disappointed with the sentence — two years in the House of Correction, with just 90 days to serve.

“I did get some satisfaction,” said Manter, of Rutland, a petite mother of three. “But I know what happened in that office and I know what I went through. He got off very easy.”

But the priest was scheduled to get off even easier than she imagined. On July 5, she received a phone call from the state Parole Board, informing her that the Rev. Abdelahad had been granted parole and would be released July 13 — tomorrow — after serving just 49 days.

Ms. Manter was dumbstruck. Not only was she unaware that parole was an option, but she was never notified of the July 2 hearing so she could object to his release, which is her right as a victim under state law.

“This man almost murdered me, and his sentence was an insult,” she said. “Now, his early release is the ultimate slap in the face. And the fact that I was never given the opportunity to have any say has left me angry, frustrated and very depressed.”

The 56-year-old priest was convicted after a jury-waived trial that divided the tight-knit St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral and included references to demons and exorcism. Ms. Manter, a registered nurse, testified that Father Mike physically and sexually abused her while attempting to treat her eating disorder during sessions at the church from 2007 through 2009.

Manter told the judge that the priest grabbed her by the hair, slapped her in the face, kicked her, beat her with a miniature baseball bat, tore her clothes off and sexually assault her. He told her they were engaged in “spiritual warfare” and her body was a “battleground,” she said.

“I was extremely confused,” she testified, saying that she considered Father Mike her “spiritual father.”

Immediately after the trial, Ms. Manter completed a victim notification form, and a spokesman for District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said the form was sent to the state May 31.

“Beyond that, we had no notification there was a problem,” said spokesman Timothy Connolly.

But Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Public Safety, said Ms. Manter wasn’t registered with the state as a victim in time for the priest’s July 2 parole hearing. Instead, she was victimized by a series of delays and errors.

They began with the state Department of Criminal Justice Information Services, which received the victim form but didn’t send it out for verification for 12 business days, because of a backlog in that office, Mr. Harris said. And because the district attorney’s office indicated that the priest was housed at the Department of Correction rather than the House of Correction, the form was sent to the DOC, which returned it to the district attorney, saying they had no inmate by the name of Abdelahad, Mr. Harris said. By the time the form was corrected, the parole hearing had been held.

An outraged Ms. Manter was told there was nothing she could do. But after feeling powerless for so long at the hands of this priest, she took action. She called the media, complained to court officials and wrote an angry letter to the Parole Board, complete with photos of her battered face and body.

“I have been labeled a nut, a horrible mom and an evil person who took advantage of poor Father Michael,” she wrote, referring to parishioners who continue to stand by the priest. “Is there anything I can do to stop this release from taking place? I’m tired of my life being on hold. Where do I go when the law breaks its own law?”

The Parole Board listened. On Tuesday, it voted to rescind its earlier vote for parole and to reschedule the hearing so that Ms. Manter could speak. And yesterday, she received more good news: the Rev. Abdelahad had waived his right to another hearing and will complete his 90-day sentence.

Ms. Manter called the turn of events “amazing.” She said she’s grateful that, for once, she was able to exert some control over her tormenter, rather than the other way around.

“Knowing that he waived his right for a new hearing when he found out that I could attend made me feel pretty good,” Ms. Manter said. “The victim sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. But there’s a person here, and he caused wounds that will never heal.”

Contact: dwilliamson@telegram.com